Guest columnist
Setting a new direction for Seattle's children

By Norman B. Rice
Special to The Times

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It was 1990 — very early in my first term as Seattle mayor — when the people of Seattle took a big step toward helping the children of our city. That year, voters approved the Families and Education Levy, which funded a variety of services to help children be safe, healthy and ready to learn. Voters renewed that levy in 1997.

Today, Mayor Greg Nickels, parents and community leaders are launching the third Families and Education Levy initiative. This renewal sets the direction we need for Seattle's children. The new proposal continues many of the services begun in the first levy and continued in the second, while placing a special emphasis on accountability and a coordinated approach that will show clear results in the lives of children, especially those of color and those living in poverty.

The 2004 levy proposal sets goals to help more younger children enter school ready to learn; target those children who need the most help; and measure the outcomes of the programs and services we fund. This plan will close gaps in academic achievement based on income, race, ethnicity and language, and encourage providers to form an integrated, citywide system of programs and services that will achieve the best results for kids.

This is the change we need. We know from a variety of recent measures that too many children enter kindergarten lacking the fundamental skills and physical and emotional health required to learn. Too many middle-school children have failing grades and tests. And only two out of three students graduate. A disproportional number of these children are persons of color, poor, or both.

In fact, only one in two students of color graduates, with a disproportionate number landing in the juvenile-justice system, locking themselves out of an education and a chance to develop the skills they need to continue in school and later, to find good jobs.

Meanwhile, there are state and federal rules requiring that students pass standardized tests in order to graduate from high school. Without aggressive intervention to help children succeed, these requirements will make graduation even more unreachable for many young people.

The mayor's 2004 Families and Education Levy proposal will help reverse these negative trends and set a new direction for Seattle's families and kids. It's structured so that every element of the levy brings positive change for children.

This new direction reflects recommendations from 2,500 residents representing a broad cross-section of parents, educators, business and community leaders and youth, and months of study and advice of a citizens' advisory committee and a levy oversight committee. The proposal retains many effective elements of the earlier levies while strategically adding new emphases to reach its goals. These include:

• Preschool programs for an additional 400 children each year. Low-income families who didn't have access to preschool before will be eligible for free preschool programs for their 4-year-olds. This will give more children a fighting chance when they get to kindergarten — a chance to progress with their peers, and not be forever left behind.

• After-school, academically focused programs for middle-school students who aren't working at grade level, so that they do work at grade level.

• More funding to community-based organizations for providing supportive programs and services, such as programs that involve parents more in their children's schools.

Both the business and the academic communities will be pleased to learn that the new levy proposal requires that research and measurement methodologies be used to evaluate the outcomes of funded programs and services. This information will help direct funding to the most effective approaches, and allow us to report back to the people of Seattle on how we are doing.

With this levy, the City Council and the voters can help more young people attain an education and position themselves to pursue living-wage jobs here, in Seattle, where they grew up.

The proposal is consistent with the mayor's priorities to build strong families and healthy communities, and create jobs and economic opportunity for all. It is consistent with the Seattle Public Schools' priorities to close achievement gaps. And it is fundamental to the social and economic future of this city. There is no doubt in my mind that this is the direction we must take.

I encourage you to learn about this proposal and to let your views be known to City Council members as they study it over the next couple of months and prepare to place it on the ballot.

Norman B. Rice, who served as Seattle mayor for two terms during the 1990s, is president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle.

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