Election countdown: Seattle Public Schools Proposition 1

We’re committed to at least one election-related update per day/night between now and Election Day on November 2nd; you’ll be able to vote within days, since King County says it’s mailing ballots this Wednesday. Seattle Public Schools Proposition 1, a supplemental operations levy with a property-tax increase seeking to raise $48 million over the next three years. The basic language you’ll see on the ballot, plus the pro-con statements/rebuttals from the official voters’ guide, can be seen here. The district itself has an explanatory page here, including this line: “This levy is intended to fund textbooks, materials and teacher salaries per the new SEA contract.” The fine print – the actual detailed resolution approved by the School Board to place this on the ballot – can be read here. It doesn’t stipulate exactly what will be spent for whom and where. For an even-closer look at what supporters and opponents are saying, this site is set up by people advocating a “no” vote; this one is from the group that says “vote yes.” P.S. If you’re interested in discussing the levy (or any other SPS issue) with West Seattle’s School Board rep, Steve Sundquist has a community chat 11 am-12:30 pm today at High Point Library.

Dorothy Neville October 9, 2010 (10:01 am)

Thank you for informing your readers about this unusual school levy! The supplemental levy supplements headquarters and will lead to more cuts in the classroom!

Charlie Mas October 10, 2010 (10:23 am)

There has been a lot of bad work done by the current Seattle Public Schools leadership, but the Board hasn’t held them accountable. In the wake of the Board’s failure/refusal to hold the superintendent accountable, the duty it falls to the community.
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We have heard about the over-crowding at Garfield High School where there are 1,790 students in a space designed for 1,650, but things are even worse in the north end of West Seattle. In the four elementary schools in the Madison Service Area there are a total of 1,765 students in schools with a total capacity of 1,551. And Pathfinder is full as well. There are 214 more students than seats. If we target enrollment at 90% of capacity (to allow for some flexibility) then there are 369 more students than seats. That’s enough for a whole additional school!
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This is an area where the District has recently closed two elementary school buildings (Fairmount Park and Genessee Hill) saying that there was excess capacity here to meet the demand.
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What a botch job! But no one is being held accountable for this failure. The District doesn’t even admit the mistake. They say that it will work out in 3-5 years.
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Other failures:
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Forcing the Everyday Math materials and instructional strategy on every school when we have Schmitz Park showing amazing success with the Singapore Math.
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Moving Denny onto the Chief Sealth campus despite the objection of every single constituency group. Who are they listening to if not the community?
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Demolishing the brand new tennis courts and softball diamond to make room for the new Denny building – what a spectacular waste!
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Increasing class sizes, cutting college and career counselors, cutting elementary school counselors, cutting librarians, cutting other school support while spending money to expand the central administration and push forward on pet projects from the Strategic Plan.

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The District has totally changed the way they provide Special Education services. Now the Special Education students spend almost the whole day in general education classrooms. That should be a good thing for everyone, but the District botched it. They utterly failed to provide adequate support. Not only is it bad for the Special Education students, it puts extraordinary strain on the teachers, it disrupts the education of the other students in the class, and it contributes to strife in the community. The District cut the staffing ratios for the Special Education students from 3:8 to 3:20. They have no intention of fixing this problem because they refuse to admit they have done it wrong.

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For the past two years, while school budgets have been cut, not one single Strategic Plan project was delayed, postponed, or trimmed down for lack of resources.
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Did you read the audits of the District done by the State Auditor? They had the worst audit that any school district EVER had. The auditor wrote that the district was operating without regard for the law or their own policies. The auditor wrote that the financial statements were meaningless. The auditor found conflicts of interest, millions misspent, dozens of employees overpaid, and a failure to track assets or report thefts.
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They can say whatever they want about how they will spend the money from this levy, but they are under no obligation to spend it the way they say they will. The money just goes into the operations budget along with all of their other revenue and gets spent just like all of their other money. There’s no oversight committee for this levy. There’s no report due on how they spent it.
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We need to vote no on this supplemental levy to tell the District leadership that we do not approve of their work. This is less than 3% of the District’s operations budget, and they didn’t have any plans to spend this money in the classroom, so it won’t hurt the kids. If we pass this, they will use the vote as proof that the community supports their decisions. That’s how they have interpreted the passage of previous levies. Say NO to bad management. Say NO to past mistakes. Say NO to district leadership arrogance. Say NO to the supplemental levy.

madashell October 21, 2010 (12:42 pm)

I’m voting NO. The District is playing on the concern and generosity of parents and neighbors to fund its poorly-executed initiatives. That’s where this levy money will go. VERY little of this money will actually help ease the pain of budget cuts in the classroom. Somehow, central administration can afford to hire three more high-priced executives, but can’t fund tutors or intervention counselors. The District makes promises it has no intention of keeping.

I regret that the 34th District Democrats voted to endorse a yes vote, without discussion, without careful scrutiny of the underlying issues. In this case, the 34th botched it.

The First Arnold October 28, 2010 (7:03 pm)

Here is what we haven’t heard:

1. District hasn’t promised to restore
funding to Weighted Staffing Formula.
This formula provides core staff.
Presently, core staffing isn’t fully
funded. Last year, the district wanted
to eliminate elementary school counselors.
Vote NO- we need our classrooms funded.
PTAs have been funding core positions
such as math and reading specialists!

2. The District does not have a line item for
text books. They have to ask voters for a
Levy to provide books??? Besides, dollars
allowed for textbooks will also be used
to hire individuals at central HQ.

3. This Levy will fund non-sustainable
and controversial Ed. Reform initiatives.

4. The State Auditor charged Maria Goodloe-
Johnson with Unethical Non-Disclosure for
selling MAP testing without disclosing she
on the Board of NWEA (company that produces
exam).

5. The State Auditor charges – Public assets
are at risk. There have been millions
taken out of the general fund (funds class-
rooms for unlawful expenditures)

6. Strategic Initiatives are highly controversial
and haven’t proven to be effective.

7. Dollars will continue to flow into central
administration, while dollars are removed
from our classrooms.

8. Funding this Levy is a bad idea. It will
allow non-sustainable initiatives into
our district. Our children will be
paying the price for YEARS- and not in a good
way!

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