The following post was written by Mwiza Kalisa, of Schools First — a grassroots, citizen-based organization that has conducted Seattle school levy campaigns since 1995. We felt a post about the levies was pertinent to our readers since the upcoming vote to renew the Capital Levy (BEX IV) for Seattle Public Schools includes money to re-open and modernize Lincoln High School in 2019 to accommodate the influx of students here in the north end.
This month voters will receive ballots in the mail for the renewal of two property tax-levies. The levies, which are the only measures on the ballot, will help bridge state funding gaps and support facility improvements for Seattle Public Schools.
Considering the increasing numbers of enrollment in Seattle public schools, these levies are crucial in improving the facilities and providing the resources that are vital for our children. Proposition 1: a $551.9 million operations levy will provide funding for approximately 26 percent of Seattle Public School’s operating budget over the next three years. The school levy will help fund teacher’s salaries, textbooks, transportation, a sixth period for high school, security and special-education programs, among other day-to-day costs not fully funded by the State.
The $649.9 million Capital Levy (BEX IV), will provide necessary funding to maintain, improve and expand school buildings. In 2007, voters approved the BEX III capital levy that improved district buildings, infrastructure and classroom technology. Hamilton International Middle School is a product of the BEX III levy and a good example of how the capital levy can help improve other schools.
The renewal of the BEX Capital Levy will replace or renovate school buildings, many of which are more than 50 years old. Additionally, the levy will provide funding for new schools and school expansions in response to increased enrollment in recent years. Without these levies our schools will struggle to meet the growing demand of students. Within the past year, enrollment has increased by about 1,400 students and an additional 7,000 students are anticipated over the next decade.
The BEX IV Capital Levy will also continue to provide earthquake retrofits for 37 schools that do not meet updated safety standards. Furthermore, BEX IV will build additional lunchrooms, new science labs and improved outdoor athletic facilities. All schools are slated to receive technology upgrades that include wireless internet access and improve accounting systems.
Both propositions are renewals of existing levies. If we fail to renew these levies, the lack of sufficient funds will undermine the growth of Seattle’s public schools and the capacity to provide our children with the education that they deserve. These levies are critical to public education for Seattle’s students and it is essential that they pass. If approved, these levies would cost the owner of a $400,000 home approximately $13 a month over what homeowners pay on the existing expiring levies.
I vote NO, I don’t have kids and I am tired of subsidizing other people’s! Homeowners with kids should pay the increased property tax and not those of us who don’t have kids. It’s bad enough as a single that I don’t get the tax breaks that married people with children do, now I should subsidize your life choice?
Before anyone whines that better education is good for ALL, parents are living in a dreamland if they think putting more money into the schools means a better educational result. Check out Finland, #1 in education in the world and spends a fifth of what we do here. All that extra money really ends up paying overinflated salaries of admin and central office and the constant new special programs they dream up to justify themselves. I would know, I am a former teacher. None of this increased funding makes it to the teachers or classroom. More money is NOT the answer.
I totally agree with K.Lee and will NOT continue to fund the school system’s mismanagement/corrupt misuse of funds,poor hiring choices of superintendents which required huge payoffs to get them out of the district, then vast sums to find replacements. Our local interim superintendent was was wise enough to “get out of Dodge” and hire on in Bellevue! We funded bad calculations re school populations, which resulted in closing, then reopening the same schools within two years. Enough!
It is an affront to say that the increase in funding of these levies will be be “$13 per month on a typical $400K house”. What about all the houses ABOVE that! $13/mo. is $156/yr IN ADDITION to the existing mo. tax…and that’s only the “typical $400K” house! That isn’t pocket change, esp. when added to ALL THE OTHER propositions that have recently passed in liberal, VERY GENEROUS Seattle, generous as considered by the majority of voters who probably are NOT property owners!!!
I will vote YES. I am single. I am 78. Most likely K. Lee was a child at one time.
I hope there were not may adults like K. Lee who inhibited K. Lee getting a good education by voting no on levies and bond issues. I can’t argue with noon either, there were some poor mistakes made in the past.
These levies are needed to provide a good education for our children. In turn, these children will be adults, making decisions for their fellow citizens on both ends of the spectrum of life.
Mistakes have been made in the SSDD, no doubt about that. Some of them made in the past were downright ridiculous. The checks and balances of an informed public will provide due diligence in the future.
Schools used to be funded by timber. That does not work anymore. THe schools need a predictable income source, so that CAN plan, and have long range planning, but the funding cannot be projected in long term planning. So we have to do it this way.
The way we fund schools is regressive,and not fair to lower income people. That is why we need a state income tax, which is progressive. But we have what we have.
I know the SSDD has many problems. I hope they learn from their past mistakes.
But I will always vote yes on investing in our future citizens and our children
SPS need to do a better job of using the money they already receive. How about trimming some of those multiple layers of management down at head office?
Why should any Wally resident vote ‘yes’ when they keep shrinking the borders of the good schools anyway?
Voting yes on both levies. Nothing could be more important. SPS has problems. Withholding funds for operations and capital improvements to aging buildings is not the solution. Give Seattle kids the same opportunities we had.
@1, @2, @4
Please read the above post again (or the first time) – they are not asking for *additional* money (ok, $13 more per year), just money that already has been there to be approved again. While the school district has had its share of issues, punishing teachers, parents, and students (and yourselves, unless you value an uneducated workforce) by rejecting this money doesn’t send the message you think it will send. Decaying buildings, or those that collapse due to earthquake, won’t help any of our property values, either.
The courts have already found that the state legislature is massively underfunding education compared to its commitments. Removing even more funding is not the answer. I wish it didn’t come from my property tax dollars, but absent a progressive income tax (and subsequent decrease in the sales tax), funding mechanisms in this state are limited.
Also, this “multiple layers of management” canard needs to go away just as much as “government waste”. Unless you can point to specific wasteful practices, or jobs, what you said means absolutely nothing.
Oh, yes, and @5
What do you think makes for good schools? I think that fixing up crumbling infrastructure and adding new science labs will help with that. Your solution of making all schools worse won’t help this neighborhood, or any of them.
A clear “yes” vote for this property owner.
Speaking of Finland, the main reason they’ve had such great success, according to Pasi Sahlberg’s book anyway is their focus on cooperative learning. “All of the factors that are behind the Finnish success seem to be the opposite of what is taking place in the United States and much of the rest of the world, where competition, test-based accountability, standardization, and privatization seem to dominate.”
I just voted my approval. The two propositions are extensions of existing levies.
I don’t have any kids. But educated citizens are crucial to the future of the society I live in. So I voted yes on extending both the existing levies.
The official opposition statement to the capital levy, said, among other things, that spending money on school facilities would be a waste given that we have 80 portables that children can learn in. I was reminded of Ebenezer Scrooge’s question: “Are there no workhouses?” That was enough for me to vote in the affirmative.
I hear this same old argument of “stop the brain-dead school district from doing X,Y,Z Bad Things by not voting for the levy” during every levy election. If you don’t like what the school district is doing, work to put someone on the School Board who supports your view of things. If you can’t get that done, clearly your viewpoint isn’t widely-enough held to carry the day. Killing off school levies only makes everyone’s problems harder to solve and only hurts the kids.
I struggle with this. It reminds me of the perennially unemployed college friend who seeks financial assistance. The first few times, of course you lend a hand. But after twenty years, and the friend is still refusing to save money for rent and food, or making other poor choices with their money, one is tempted to impose a little “tough love”. Neither route makes you feel very good. Either feel like a chump by reinforcing poor choices through continued support, or feel horrible that you are abandoning a former friend.
I don’t know how I will vote. But please
DO vote, either way. No vote is no vote. The levy only requires a simple majority and there is no minimum threshold required for validation.
Today’s kids are tomorrow’s leaders. Don’t be short-sighted about the “I don’t have kids” thing. Give kids what they need to grow up, take charge, and fix the messes we left them!