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Title : Seattle Schools Levies; The Times Pounces
link : Seattle Schools Levies; The Times Pounces

Seattle Schools Levies; The Times Pounces

In a fairly incoherent editorial yesterday, the Seattle Times slams SPS for their Operations levy.  (And takes one swipe at the BEX capital levy.)
They say the district is asking for more in the Operations levy than they say is legal and "jeopardizing a 40-year effort to reduce inequity among schools across the state." 

To note, OSPI signed off on Seattle's levies so if there was something illegal, they didn't find it.  I am fairly certain that OSPI knows more about it than the Times.

Also, it is the Times that had advocated in another editorial that  districts to take a "wait and see" attitude on the McCleary spending plan for a couple of years.  Problem is that every district has budgeting folks who actually know how to forecast and nearly every single district in this state will have a shortfall by 2020.  No crystal ball needed.


They say about the McCleary spending plan:
The plan is dynamic and can be adjusted to cover districts with extraordinary needs.

And yet the Times blows off the shocking lack of action on the part of the Legislature on fully funding Special Education.  Some "dynamic" plan.   


I think the central question that the Times ignores is that the State has ignored their paramount duty for decades.  And, in the question of "what is basic education", the Times pretends that that issue has been solved.

If nine nurses for 53,000 students is a reality of basic education, then I'm gobsmacked.  I'd like to personally ask the Times that question - do you think that is right?

They also ignore that fact that while Seattle and Bellevue can surely ask for more and pass levies, the more rural parts of the state don't even pass levies at lower rates.  Is that about being rural or being conservative?

Children end up with unequal educational opportunity based on where they live, and the wealth and generosity of their community.

At least they are partially honest - it does depend on whether a community values education enough to be generous.  I grew up in a rural community but it is a choice when considering taxes of what you value.

But they also forget that SPS is not a mirror of the City demographically.  Seattle is a lot whiter and wealthier than the district - the stats show it.  So SPS is not just serving "wealthy" students - it's serving homeless, low-income, and immigrant students.

Their editorial also begs the question - how come they mightily endorsed the doubling and expansion of the City's Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Plan levy - but now they have a problem with SPS' levies because property taxes are high?  The SPS levies are renewal (which they were fine with the City's levy).  And, the money collected by the State on Seattle property taxes does NOT all stay in Seattle.  So yeah, Seattle's property taxes collected for levies DID go up but it's not all staying in our schools.

So to restate, I am for equity in school funding statewide but you have to be pragmatic about the understanding that big districts have big needs AND some smaller districts have populations that won't pass levies in the name of better public education.

The Times also has a series of questions.  (I note that one reader put a few of these in a comment in another thread - without attribution - please always attribute wording and not pass it off as your own.)

• How much of the operations levy is for basic education, that the state should fund, and how much is for extras that are legal under McCleary?

The Operations levy cannot be used for basic education.  But the money the State has granted for "basic education" is being used for that but SPS has a duty to fund beyond that.  At last night's levies meeting at John Rogers, head of Budget JoLynn Berge said it was  "moral duty."  And again, 9 nurses for 53,000 students and 3 social workers for 53,000 as the State funds "basic education" is immoral.

• If the state’s definition of basic education has flaws, and isn’t covering essentials, why not work to change that definition so every school district and student benefits, not just those in property-rich Seattle?

That would be a question for legislators, not the district.  The district does advocate at the State level but honestly, their job is to run a school district, not write state policy. 

• If the district is facing a financial shortfall, why did it approve 10 percent raises last year? Educators must be well-paid, but wouldn’t it have been prudent to provide a smaller raise?

Every district has a duty to answer that question but I think Seattle Schools would say, we want to keep our teachers.   The district especially does not want to lose its best teachers who might consider going elsewhere because of the costs of living in Seattle.  That said, I think teacher raises throughout the state will be a topic of discussion in coming years.

• Lawmakers say they’ll fully fund special education this year. Won’t that resolve much of the district’s budget problems?

What legislators say they will do - as they did for decades in promising to get schools fully funded - is different from what happens.  The district does not expect to see the $72M extra that it pays for Sped services to be fully funded by the State.

However, one parent at last night's Levies meeting did ask what would happen if the State did fully fund Special Education and there were extra dollars.  Berge said that they have many items they would like to invest in like a nurse in nearly every school, counselors, ELL and music.

But a Sped teacher did say that they have almost no curriculum and that the transportation issues were of great concern for their students.  Berge said that transportation is another area where all districts are having issue and they need state help.

My main concerns for the levies are big and small.  The big issue is that I continue to see a lack of transparency on where all the capital dollars go.  How can Whitman Middle School have buckets in their halls because the roof leaks and there is money in both BTA III and IV and yet nothing is happening?  What does the district consider a true capital emergency?

Small is that both Schools First (the group that plans the campaigns for SPS levies) and the district refuse to state how much each levy asks for AND don't admit like the City with their education levy, are asking for a lot more money.  I get that the taxing rate is the same but yes, the district is asking for more money.  They need to own that.

For the record, the Operations levy is for $815M and BEX is for $1.4B and I support both.

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