Family levy pushes accountability, gives more clout to community

By Linda Shaw
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Mayor Greg Nickels wants to add $30 million more to Seattle's Families and Education Levy over the next seven years, but also more expectations for what those dollars achieve.

In 1990 and again in 1997, Seattle voters approved a seven-year property-tax levy, each of which paid for $69 million worth of programs inside and outside schools aimed at making city students safe, healthy and ready to learn.

The mayor's proposal to renew the levy, which he is unveiling today and sending to the City Council, would total $103 million over seven years, including $4 million to provide free preschool to 400 4-year-olds from low-income families. That would double the amount now spent on early learning.

Nickels' plan would also shift more control of the money from the Seattle School District to community organizations.

The levy, Nickels said yesterday, "isn't about the school district, it's about the kids."

Under the mayor's recommendation, a homeowner whose property is assessed at $336,000 would pay $58 a year, up from $34 a year for the current levy.

The mayor's proposal drops some programs funded under the last levy, a $69 million package. It opens up other programs to competition among groups to provide the services, which some find disturbing.

Both school and community programs are needed, said John Dunn, president of the Seattle Education Association. "I feel we're being pitted against each other," he said.

Nickels, however, says the levy hasn't been as effective as it should be, and that he wants to ensure it leads to measurable improvement in student learning, especially for low-income and minority students.

To do that, his proposal reduces the amount of money given directly to the school district for school-based programs, pushes for more school-community partnerships and calls for stricter accountability. If programs don't result in measurable improvements, they will be ended, Nickels said.
 
The existing levy programs "have made a difference, but they haven't made enough of a difference," he said.

He said he wants to see tangible results that the levy helps reduce the stubborn gap in achievement between many students of color, and their white counterparts — an issue faced by school districts around the nation. To do that, he's proposing spending $200,000 to track whether the levy's programs result in better school attendance, or higher grades, or fewer teenage pregnancies.

"We are failing too many kids in our school system," he said.

The Families and Education levy came out of a summit of business and community leaders called by then-Mayor Norm Rice in 1990. Those leaders saw a role for the city in helping public-school students succeed.

This year, a 42-member citizens committee advised Nickels on what its members wanted to see in the new levy. Other advice came from a seven-member Levy Oversight Committee, which includes Nickels, schools Superintendent Raj Manhas, School Board member Jan Kumasaka, City Councilman David Della and three citizens.

The mayor's proposal is nearly identical to the recommendations of the oversight committee.

Nickels' proposal would keep money flowing to the same general areas as the 1997 levy. But it might change who gets the dollars to provide those services.

That's a source of controversy.

"I'm not sold that this change will result in more coordination of services," said Lisa Bond, president of the Seattle PTSA.

If the mayor's proposal prevails, the school district stands to lose programs, including $1 million that has gone to 20 schools to help middle-school students stay connected to school.

School Board member Dick Lilly said board members have yet to decide whether to lobby the City Council to reinstate that middle-school support program, which he thinks has provided crucial psychological counseling for students.

The mayor's proposal also would mean the loss of four nursing positions in secondary schools. Lilly, among others, said there is fear middle-school athletics also might be at risk, but Nickels' staff members said yesterday that's not the case.

The mayor's staff had recommended against continuing to pay for family-support workers, who work in 56 elementary schools as liaisons between school staffs and families, and support families in need.

But the School Board and others convinced the mayor those services were best provided by schools, not community groups.

"We consider that program housed within the schools absolutely integral to supporting student and families," said board President Mary Bass.

The School Board and others, however, applaud the increase in dollars for preschool — although some, including City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, say it's not enough.

Steinbrueck was among those who want the levy to pick up programs that would have been funded by last year's latte-tax measure, which was defeated at the polls. Steinbrueck supported the goal of that tax but not the means.

Others, however, see the mayor's preschool proposal as a good start. "Even though it's not a huge program, it's the beginning of something I think can have a huge impact," said Holly Miller, who headed the levy's citizens advisory committee.

"Research shows over and over again that exposure to high-quality preschool does make a big difference in academic achievement."

The mayor will formally submit his proposal to the council Monday. A public hearing is scheduled May 19. The council is scheduled to make a final decision in July about what will go on the ballot in September.

In November, voters in Seattle and throughout the state may be asked to support a sales-tax increase for an Education Trust Fund that, among other things, would provide more money for preschool across the state.

But Education Trust Fund proponents aren't worried voters will confuse the two measures or believe they've given enough support for schools.

The two are complementary, said Mark Usdane, executive director of the League of Education Voters, the group behind the proposed statewide initiative.

Together, he said, they would make a big dent in the long waiting list of children who qualify for free preschool but can't find a spot.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com

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