Spawn Point Behavior of Y-Coordinate

As of version 18, the spawn point no longer respects the y-coordinate of the spawn coordinates. This is NOT a desirable behavior, especially for long-established servers.

There was a reported bug on the issue which was hastily closed as "works as expected", but a second bug was opened to revisit the idea because the change breaks old behavior. Responses from Minecraft employees have so far been disappointing:
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-245811
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC-243079

I understand the desire to have players spawn on the surface rather than in caves, especially when the players are new and trying the game for the first time. For older servers, though, many of us have constructed elaborate buildings around the spawn point with the intent of providing new players with a protected starting point including walls with rules and resources to help them get started and enjoy the multiplayer server.

What's baffling to me is that this "can't" be had both ways.

Example Algorithm:
1. Spawn points default to values such as (x, 320, z)
2. System starts at spawn point and searches down until solid surface is reached.
3. If process passes -64, return cursor to spawn point and search up until air blocks are reached.

Alternatively, just go back to the old algorithm and have the default spawn point generate with a higher y-value.

Either way, I'd really appreciate if this breaking change is reconsidered. Thank you very much :)