The Seattle City Council voted unanimously today to place a renewal of the Families and Education Levy on the November ballot, a week after the council's Special Committee on Educational Achievement for Seattle Schoolchildren approved the legislation.

The $231 million levy will fund programs outside of basic programs funded by the district over the next seven years, doubling the current $116 million levy, which is set to expire at the end of the year. An average Seattle household will pay $124 annually in property taxes compared with the $64 they pay now.

Council Member Tim Burgess, who chairs the council's Committee for Education and Public Safety, said that although "many of our families are going through tough times, nearly half of Seattle's school children are at risk academically," especially those from poor and immigrant families. "This levy will help the neediest students in the neediest schools," Burgess said.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Burgess have stressed that levy funds will be controlled by the City of Seattle and not the school district, which is recovering from a major financial scandal. The Seattle School Board fired Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson earlier this month because of her lack of oversight over a district contractual program, which resulted in $1.8 million in public funds being wasted.

The day the special council committee voted unanimously to put the levy renewal on the November ballot, a Slog poll showed a 56 percent support for it, despite the recent school district controversy.

Should Seattle voters approve an education levy after the school district's financial scandal?
Total votes: 398

Yes, the city's holding the purse strings 224 votes (56.28%)
No, enough is enough 107 votes (26.88%)
Only if the city takes over the schools 67 votes (16.83%)

An Elway Poll result released Saturday in which 405 voters were polled from March 24-25, 28 percent said the City of Seattle should let the levy expire, 35 percent said they would support extending the levy "something like the extending levy" and 31 percent supported the current proposal to double the levy.