Good for Burgess but two things.

One, where will all these schools be? I've said it before and it's worth saying again, there is ZERO room in Seattle Public Schools (which would be a logical place to start). That means finding a lot more spaces for all these kids.

Two, I found it interesting that BOTH Superintendent Banda and Board member Stephan Blanford felt it necessary for them to attend this tour in Boston and New Jersey with Burgess. Their jobs are K-12, not pre-K. While it's great to keep them up-to-date and to work with the City, I'm not sure this was the best use of K-12 dollars.

Do you think maybe you were wrong that Burgess, Murray and others needed to be "called out" for their East Coast pre-k trip because it conflicted with the minimum wage meeting at Town Hall? Or is that still your position?

Can we have a shared breakfast for legislators every morning?

Can we fully fund full day Kindergarten first?

First, will this be mandatory, as in Seattle children HAVE TO be in the state-sanctioned brainwashing, er, I mean, education system, or will parents have a choice and be able to oh, I don't know, let their toddlers just be toddlers before kindergarten?

Second, there was an article in yesterday's stranger about cuddling service in Seattle that opened. Okay, if we have such a need for that service than I say the government raise taxes on everyone to fund universal cuddling services so that men who can't find girlfriends can have some emotional contact.

What do you say? They should "boot strap" themselves and find their own girlfriend and not tax you so they can get a fake one? YOU AYN RAND LOVING SOCIOPATH!

Now that sarcasm mode is turned off, the question still remains: why tax me for someone else's brats to go to pre-K? I don't have kids nor do I want them and I sure as hell don't want to fund something I'll never use. And SPARE ME that whole "it's good for society" line. Letting lonely men cuddle for free with a professional cuddler would probably also be "good for society", should we raise taxes for that too? I think a giant painball arena in the middle of Seattle would be sweet and "good for society" too, so why not raise taxes to fund that as well?

When the hell does it end? Jesus, this city looks more and more idiotic every fucking day. I can't wait until I get enough money saved up to move to Texas, where a politician would be tarred and feathered for even mentioning something this absurd.

@5: When you are old, addled, and incontinent, it will be the children of others who will feed you, sit you up in bed, and wipe your saggy ass. So unless you plan to eat a bullet before your senses fail you, I suggest you shut the fuck up with your idiotic and selfish blather about "someone else's brats."

@6
Yes, and you will someday be in need from a doctor, a nurse, a mechanic or someone else who has to help you out. What if that man hasn't been given a hug and hasn't cuddled in forever and hence isn't as focused on the job? So, I suggest we raise your taxes to provide professional cuddling services to all men who can't find a real girlfriend on their own.

Don't want to be taxed to afford someone else's cuddling service? YOU SUCK YOU SELFISH IDIOT!

@7: Yawn. Obfuscation and false equivalency fail.

If you don't understand the vast difference between the social benefits provided by universal high-quality early childhood education and that provided by hugs-for-pay, you are clearly too dumb to participate in an adult dialogue.

Of course, you aren't actually that dumb. You are just making a ham-fisted argument that boils down to "I can see no immediate, direct, and tangible benefit to me me me! in this policy, therefore it is worthless to me me me!."

@8
When did I was I was against universally afffordible pre-school? I didn't. I am also against the government taxing people to provide flat screen TVs, does that mean I'm against flat screens?
If government stepped regulating education it would become affordable to all, without forcing people to pay a tax to provide it.

And multiple studies have been done to show people are more lonely these days (read "Bowling Alone). So, why not have the government do something about that too? Why not tax people to fight the Seattle freeze through a government friendship program? Are you actually going to say people forming social bonds is not good for society?

And pre-K isn't worth that much, which is why Finland abandoned it completely. Why not let toddler just be toddlers? Why force them into government approved brainwashing centers at so young an age?

@9: "Government approved brainwashing centers," eh? Right, I can see there is no point even having this discussion.

Seriously. You are a tinfoil-hat loon. Get fucked.