The Times recommends rejection of Seattle's school levy

VOTERS should reject Seattle Public Schools' $48 million levy. A message needs to be sent to the district, and this is the one unmistakable way to send it.

Recommending "no" is a big step for us. The Seattle Times is a supporter of public education. We have not opposed a levy in recent memory.

Here is our concern. Last summer, State Auditor Brian Sonntag released an audit of Seattle Schools. It found a series of troubling, and in some cases costly, errors. They appeared less like accounting mistakes and more like the result of a district culture of entitlement when it comes to spending the public's money.

This page's theme this year is "reset." The idea is that revenues have shrunk, there is less public money, and public agencies have to adjust. Basic education is constitutionally favored and deserves a higher priority than other public spending. But it has to manage itself in a rational way, with financial controls, understandable budgets and other tools for making sure the public's money is benefiting kids.

The district claims it has made progress, but it is too slow. The audit is deeply damning.

Always the argument is that "no" is a vote against kids. But Seattle has passed the three-year levy, which was nine times bigger than this one. Also the capital levy. They were on the ballot in February, and this page supported them.

This levy is small — only 3 percent of the operating budgets of the next three years. It is not essential. The district can live without it. Kids will still go to school.

A "no" vote is adults sending a message to adults — not so much to Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson as to the bureaucracy dug in behind her.

We are not the only ones questioning this levy. The 11th District Democrats, which cover South Seattle, oppose it. The 43rd District Democrats took a neutral position as did the League of Women Voters of Seattle.

And so we come to "no" on the supplemental levy for Seattle Public Schools.