Some quick hits from the Council Briefing and City Council meetings today.
It was a most uncontroversial Council meeting this afternoon; everything on the agenda passed unanimously.
Next Monday will be the final “MHA Monday,” when the Select Committee on the MHA meets in the morning to discuss proposed zoning changes in District 1. A public hearing in District 1 is scheduled for Tuesday evening at Chief Sealth High School..
Council member Gonzalez noted that the gun storage legislation that she and Mayor Durkan introduced last week will get its first committee hearing on June 13th.
Gonzalez also announced the schedule for the Select Committee handling the education levies renewal:
- this Wednesday morning at 9:30am, the committee will go through issue identification and discuss possible amendments.
- Wednesday evening there will be a public hearing on the proposed levy.
- Additional meetings are scheduled for June 6 and June 11.
- Gonzalez hopes to have a final vote by the end of June.
re: “Families, Education, Pre-School and Promise Levy” – I’m curious about the rationale re: having the Pre-K programs run by the City rather than Seattle Public Schools.
Seems that there would ideally be tight alignment re: curriculum, classroom management expectations, etc. – and coordinating the student hand-offs between two organizations (City of Seattle and Seattle Public Schools) as they enter Kindergarten might introduce some challenges.
There is an ongoing tension between the city and SPS over programs like this. It could be in either place, but SPS is a real mess these days and until it gets its house in order (including its budget and funding) it is not the place to grow new programs. DEEL, on the other hand, is a pretty credible organization focused on “wraparound” programs to increase the success rate of kids from low-income, immigrant, and other economically disadvantaged families.