West Seattle politics: 34th District Democrats’ new leadership

(34th District Democrats’ leadership, photographed tonight by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
Tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy, this area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, have elected a new leadership slate at their annual reorganization meeting. The candidates listed on this page of the 34th DDs’ site all ran and won unopposed:

Chair – Marcee Stone-Vekich
1st Vice Chair – Ted Barker
2nd Vice Chair – Tamsen Spengler
Treasurer – Karen Chilcutt
Secretary – Marlene Allbright
State Committeeman – Chris Porter
State Committeewoman – Lisa Plymate
King County Committeewoman – Maria Ramirez
King County Committeeman – Michael Arnold
KC Committeewoman Alternate – Layne Batista
KC Committeeman Alternate – Jimmy Haun

The 34th Legislative District encompasses not only West Seattle but also White Center and vicinity (including part of Burien) and Vashon/Maury Islands. Meantime – our crew is still at tonight’s meeting; we’ll add any other toplines when they’re back.

ADDED 10:21 PM: We’ve added the top photo of not only the leadership slate listed above, but also committee chairs. WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand also reports that the 34th DDs voted tonight to endorse the Seattle Public Schools funding measures on the February special-election ballot.

P.S. The group is co-hosting an Inauguration Day party, and you’re invited. Here’s the info – tickets are on sale online right now:

2013 Inaugural Party

Hosted by
West Seattle Democratic Women and the 34th District Democrats

Monday January 21, 5-9 PM
at the West Seattle Golf Course
Music By
The West Seattle Big Band

Tickets: $40 ($75 Couple) Cocktail Attire (must buy tickets online by 1/16/2013)
https://www.completecampaigns.com/public.asp?name=34thDem&page=7

Buffet Dancing No-Host Bar

Co-Sponsored By

The West Seattle Democratic Women
and The 34th District Democrats
For more information go to www.34dems.org/2013

kat January 9, 2013 (11:08 pm)

nice to see the torch has finally been passed!

wsea January 10, 2013 (8:00 am)

i would be interested to know their reason for endorsing the febuary school funding. Sure the funding improves infrustructure but should not that be covered with our current property tax? I’m all for giving to the schools but throwning good money to bad management is not a smart move. Why is it so costly to run (maintain) a school that we already own? if private schools charge 6K to 10K a year in tuition and have double the teaching staff with rent/mortgage, we should should be able to use our current taxes (9,945 per child) to run a public school on buildings we already own. Just saying…

Source: (Based on 2011 spending).
http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/Documents/K12%20Guide%202012%20FINAL5.pdf

Am I wrong with my understanding? Something just does not add up.

Norma January 10, 2013 (9:39 am)

One thing to consider is that private schools are not required to teach the variety of students with many kinds of learning challenges that public schools gladly tackle.

Marcee Stone-Vekich January 10, 2013 (11:32 am)

In the “Schools First” presentation last night, it was noted that there has been a large increase in the student population of the Seattle School district and that this is forecasted to continue. Hence, more money is needed. Many of the schools are also still in need of earthquake retrofits. Please see the site below for more information. I might also add that a lot of the private schools charge much, much more than 6K to 10K for tuition.
http://www.schoolsfirstseattle.org/

West Seattle Hipster January 10, 2013 (5:45 pm)

I have no problem voting for money for schools, but it is too often misued, poorly handled, wasted, or stolen.

george January 10, 2013 (11:09 pm)

yep, they lost me on the Arena project. sstttt!

wsea January 11, 2013 (6:55 am)

@Norma – great point. I forgot about that. I could image that reducing avg student spending per school. I still suspect the average school would get at least 7,500 per student or more.

@Marcee – I pulled my cost of private schools in the area. West Side, tilden, and church schools. the 6K – 10k for private is correct for west seattle. Also, I thought funding is based on when the child attends. I was also told that the schools get more money based on attendance. Ie. more students = more funding (not sure of the level of funding).

Just so others know, I’m all for giving to education. I would rather see the avg spending close to 15,000 per studnet but I feel that with this administration you only get 25% of every dollar. I would rather see more people question the administration instead give more money. The curret BEX tax will do little to improve education. It will improve the buildings which should have been already taken care of with current yearly funding (or they should have never shut down the schools to begin with).

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