This afternoon the City Council approved the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy, sending it to the Mayor for her signature and ultimately to the November ballot.
Continue reading Council passes Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
This morning, the Council started to focus in on the adjustments it proposes to make to Mayor Durkan’s proposed Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy. But it wasn’t easy, and they’re far from done.
Continue reading Council starts to get clarity on Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy
This year two major education-related levies expire and will likely be put up for renewal: the Families and Education Levy, and the Seattle Preschool Levy. The preschool levy was passed in 2014 to fund a four-year “demonstration program” to offer preschool to 3 and 4 year old children in Seattle, hopefully proving its viability and discovering what it would take to scale it up.
This morning, the City Council started its process of looking at the two levies in anticipation of crafting renewals for the fall ballots. It may choose to combine them into a single levy, or opt to keep them separate if there is a risk that one would drag the other down — or if the complexities of trying to split the funds between City Hall-run programs and the politically separate Seattle Public School District become overwhelming. City Hall runs the Seattle Preschool Program through its Department of Education and Early Learning, independent of the school district (though in some cases utilizing classrooms at public schools).
Earlier this week, KUOW published an article raising questions about the quality of the Seattle Preschool Program, based on the second annual outside evaluation of the program. The article reports that the program is seeing “mixed results.” Let’s dive into the study report and see what it says.
Continue reading How is the Seattle Preschool Program doing?
Last Wednesday the Comprehensive Plan’s “road tour” made its scheduled stop at the Education, Equity and Governance Committee to discuss the future of schools in the city.
Continue reading Council tackles Comprehensive Plan’s take on schools
It was a pretty tepid day in Council Chamber, but here are a few interesting tidbits worth noting.
It looks like Tuesday is going to be the super interesting day in Council Chamber this week.
Continue reading This week: NCIS under the microscope, labor laws
Early last week, the City Council sent a letter to the School Board expressing its concern over the possibility that before- and after-school childcare programs might get bumped off of school properties next year. Late last week, the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Larry Nyland, responded.
Continue reading School Board Responds to City Council on Before and After School Childcare
This morning Council member Rob Johnson circulated a letter to his fellow Council members asking the Seattle School Board to delay its decision on closing on-site before and after school care programs next year.
Continue reading Council weighs in on School Board move to close pre/after school care
The newly-elected City Council held their first session today. Taking their oath of office, speechifying, and picking teams were all on the agenda. Continue reading City Council takes oath of office, picks Harrell as President