Levy supporters hope to give kids head start

By Jessica Blanchard
Seattle Times staff reporter

GREG GILBERT / THESEATTLE TIMES Narrow Stripe Yunique Larson, 3, has fun jumping rope at Cooper Elementary's Head Start program in West Seattle.

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As senior director for child and family development at the West Seattle Family YMCA/Head Start preschool program, Smith sees firsthand the need for the levy's funds, part of which pay most of the childcare costs for many of the 100 children who attend the group's three community learning centers.

Smith has seen a lot in his five years with the preschool — children who lived in their parents' cars; children who hoarded snacks because there was no guarantee they'd get a meal at home that night.

"For some of the kids here, this is the one place that's stable," he said. "They'll come here in the morning and won't want to leave."

Standing on a patio at the preschool at Cooper Elementary School one recent morning, Smith nodded toward a cluster of children — tykes on trikes, toddlers squealing as they chased each other around the playground, older girls jumping rope.

"When I think about the levy, I don't see it in dollars and cents," Smith said. "I see it in the faces of the kids."

Levy talk The Families and Education Levy is a seven-year property-tax levy that would raise $116.8 million for Seattle public schools for a variety of programs, including preschool and early-learning programs and after-school activities. The levy also would provide money for crossing guards and school nurses. It requires a simple majority to pass.

Supporters of the $116.8 million property-tax levy hope voters see it that way, too. If the levy passes Sept. 14, it would renew funding for a host of school programs, community-based organizations and health clinics, and build on the two previous levies' goals of helping ensure that children are "safe, healthy and ready to learn."

This time, the measure includes extra money for preschools and child-care programs, and focuses efforts on closing the achievement gap between racial groups and lowering the dropout rate.

A kickoff rally yesterday at the Downtown Seattle YMCA drew a who's who of education officials and local politicians, including City Councilman David Della, himself a product of Seattle public schools.

"To be a world-class city, we need to have a world-class education system," he said. "The achievement gap in Seattle Public Schools must go."

But the property-tax levy's cost — up almost $48 million from the last levy — may be a tough sell for Seattle's increasingly tax-weary voters. The seven-year levy would cost property owners about $19.34 per $100,000 of assessed valuation, meaning the owner of a $336,000 home would pay about $65 a year, nearly double the current levy's $34 a year.

A city-sponsored telephone poll in March showed the levy's projected cost is at the high end of what polled voters were willing to support.

"I think everybody who's worked on the levy has had that concern," said Holly Miller, the executive director of the New School Foundation and a founding member of the citizens' advisory committee that helped craft the measure. "But I think this town is committed to the education of our children, and people are proud of that and are not going to quibble over the levy's size."

In a move aimed at assuaging voters who may balk at the price tag, proponents have promised all levy programs must show "measurable outcomes" to increase accountability.

Details have yet to be finalized, but if the levy is approved, an oversight committee would outline how each program's funds would be spent over the next seven years. The plan would have to be approved by the City Council.

The committee also would publish an annual report listing how the levy has helped improve academic achievement. The city already reviews the programs funded by the current levy, but the new levy would set aside roughly $200,000 for more thorough program audits.

General goals — such as having all first-graders read at grade level — have already been established, said Sid Sidorowicz, acting director for the city's Office for Education. "But actual targets, we'll set later," he said.

Supporters have warned that if the levy fails, a number of programs that aid struggling students will be cut, while need will continue to increase.

"It really is a matter of, 'pay me now or pay me later,' " said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Mark Smith, the YMCA preschool director, agreed.

"If [this] program went away, a significant number of these kids would not be ready for school when it came around," he said.

Smith wishes more voters had the chance to meet the families the program serves. For many of them, the subsidized child care the program provides is the only way they're able to make a living, he said.

"I see their struggle, trying to piecemeal it together," he said. "A lot of parents come to us in a real humble position — who wants to be on public assistance? — but this program affords people the opportunity to work."

The levy's size doesn't sway him.

"I'm a homeowner, and I'd pay this and more," he said.

Jessica Blanchard: 206-464-3896 or jblanchard@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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