Monday, October 18, 2010
Politics Vote Yes on the School Levy: State Chops Schools—You Can Slow the Bleeding
Posted by Sharon Rodgers on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 9:34 AM
(This guest Slog post is by Sharon Rodgers, president of SchoolsFirst. More info on the school levy in the voters' guide.)
I am appalled that there are individuals actively working to bring down Prop 1, the Seattle School Levy. I can only assume that they just don’t get how horrific state cuts to education have been and will continue to be.
The state has been under-funding education for years. Although the legislature passed a new law to better fund schools, there’s no money to see it through. So the cuts continue: $32 million from Seattle schools since 2008 with more on the way.
The result is that our Seattle schools are now facing a funding gap of $32.8 million for next year alone. The budget outlook is dire and this levy is our only way of making sure our schools get just some of the needed funds.
This levy will fund priority items, like buying new textbooks and supporting teachers. Funds will also lessen the impact of cuts to other educational programs. Unfortunately, further cuts will still have to be made—the budget gap is just too big—but the $48 million this levy provides will make a huge difference.
The community is behind this levy: Mayor Mike McGinn, County Executive Dow Constantine, the 34th, 36th, 46th & 47th District Dems, Metro and King County Dems, the teachers and principals associations, business groups, PTAs, the Seattle City Council, and many others. They support the levy because they know our schools need our help.
You’ll hear opponents say that because this levy is only three percent of the budget, so it doesn’t matter. Sorry, but this is just flat-out wrong. That three percent represents nearly $50 million for schools. Our schools have been taking cuts for years and now these cuts are hitting bone.
You’ll hear opponents talk about an audit of the school district. Believe me, we follow these issues closely. All the audit findings are being addressed. We’ve seen the progress being made and are convinced the district is on the right track.
You’ll hear that the district is building up central bureaucracy, but the numbers tell a different story. Eighty-five jobs have been cut from central administration. We see money going to support kids and teachers in the classroom
I’ve got two kids in public schools, and along with the 47,000 other students, they need us to support their teachers and provide them with books to make sure they’re learning. They can’t lose out just because we’re in the most miserable economic situation in decades and the state isn’t paying what it should for education.
Get your ballot out, flip it over, go right to the bottom and Vote for kids first. Vote "YES” on Seattle School District Prop 1.
1
The schools turned down lottery funding with the fear that people wouldn't vote for these endless props.
TURNED DOWN FREE MONEY
You won't get my vote, clearly you don't need more funding that badly if you are able to pick and choose where it comes from.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo…
TURNED DOWN FREE MONEY
You won't get my vote, clearly you don't need more funding that badly if you are able to pick and choose where it comes from.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo…
3
They just don't have the personal courage to run for the School Board themselves, @2.
Taking it out on the kids with the deep statewide cuts that include the schools is a low blow.
Taking it out on the kids with the deep statewide cuts that include the schools is a low blow.
4
They just don't have the personal courage to run for the School Board themselves, @2.
Taking it out on the kids with the deep statewide cuts that include the schools is a low blow.
Taking it out on the kids with the deep statewide cuts that include the schools is a low blow.
5
If the levy will fund the tarring and feathering of that incompetent, right-wing shit stain of a superintendent, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, then I will vote yes. Otherwise, fugetaboutit.
7
Sharon Rodgers, who wrote for Schools First, is someone I know. She and I have a cordial, respectful relationship and I certainly don't take anything she said personally. But I think I will use her wording in reply.
I am appalled by people who are enablers for our district to continue to fail financially. I am appalled by people who, levy after levy, promise to hold the district and the Board to be accountable and yet, nothing changes. Parents are large group and could be counted on if Schools First and/or the Seattle Council PTSA asked them to rise to the occasion and put pressure on the district to do better.
They never have.
They encourage us to write letters to the Board and talk to the Board and even more hilariously, talk to Dr. G-J. Sure, that'll work.
I am appalled that anyone could read that audit and not feel sickened. And then go out and say, trust the district.
I am appalled that anyone could look the other way or pretend that it's just a few naysayers saying no. It's not and Schools First knows it. Sorry, when you get the Seattle Times saying no and the solid citizens of the League of Women Voters expressing deep dissatisfaction with the district and, instead of backing this levy as they did for the ones in Feb, say they are taking no position, then it's not just a few people.
It's interesting because I was having a conversation with a state legislator who told me that he was surprised about how much the district was making of the cuts because the Legislature tried very hard to stay away from education and made cuts much deeper in other areas. It's like the district is tone-deaf to the rest of the state having to make do with less.
And those cuts hitting "bone"? Not when you don't freeze the travel budget or you have extra money for a lavish party or hire Broad residents for upper management jobs. Sorry, we're really not there yet.
The State audit says that the Board and the district are "putting our public funds at risk." That should send a chill down your spine. And we'll give them more money to waste and not be accountable for? How does that help kids?
Losing the levy will be a HUGE signal and push to our district. It might just push out the Superintendent as @5 seems to want.
This levy is about priorities. It is about if we are cutting funds, then most of the remaining funds have to go to the CLASSROOM and not projects for teachers and consultants. (That teachers were willing to sign their contract KNOWING that if the levy failed, they wouldn't get their raises should tell you something.)
The money has to go to the classroom first and this levy does not direct the money that way. Vote NO and save our schools.
More...
I am appalled by people who are enablers for our district to continue to fail financially. I am appalled by people who, levy after levy, promise to hold the district and the Board to be accountable and yet, nothing changes. Parents are large group and could be counted on if Schools First and/or the Seattle Council PTSA asked them to rise to the occasion and put pressure on the district to do better.
They never have.
They encourage us to write letters to the Board and talk to the Board and even more hilariously, talk to Dr. G-J. Sure, that'll work.
I am appalled that anyone could read that audit and not feel sickened. And then go out and say, trust the district.
I am appalled that anyone could look the other way or pretend that it's just a few naysayers saying no. It's not and Schools First knows it. Sorry, when you get the Seattle Times saying no and the solid citizens of the League of Women Voters expressing deep dissatisfaction with the district and, instead of backing this levy as they did for the ones in Feb, say they are taking no position, then it's not just a few people.
It's interesting because I was having a conversation with a state legislator who told me that he was surprised about how much the district was making of the cuts because the Legislature tried very hard to stay away from education and made cuts much deeper in other areas. It's like the district is tone-deaf to the rest of the state having to make do with less.
And those cuts hitting "bone"? Not when you don't freeze the travel budget or you have extra money for a lavish party or hire Broad residents for upper management jobs. Sorry, we're really not there yet.
The State audit says that the Board and the district are "putting our public funds at risk." That should send a chill down your spine. And we'll give them more money to waste and not be accountable for? How does that help kids?
Losing the levy will be a HUGE signal and push to our district. It might just push out the Superintendent as @5 seems to want.
This levy is about priorities. It is about if we are cutting funds, then most of the remaining funds have to go to the CLASSROOM and not projects for teachers and consultants. (That teachers were willing to sign their contract KNOWING that if the levy failed, they wouldn't get their raises should tell you something.)
The money has to go to the classroom first and this levy does not direct the money that way. Vote NO and save our schools.
8
What does "supporting teachers" mean? Salary? Training? Materials? Something else entirely? I find this editorial to be awfully vague about what exactly the levy will fund.
10
Wow! There sure is a lot in this SLOG post that is either factually incorrect or otherwise deceptive.
"horrific state cuts to education"
"So the cuts continue: $32 million from Seattle schools since 2008 with more on the way."
Funding for Seattle Public Schools has risen each of the past several years. There have NOT been cuts to the District budget. This talk of cuts is a flat-out lie.
"This levy will fund priority items"
If the District's budget has been cut, then how has the District leadership justified cuts to classrooms and schools (bigger class sizes, teacher lay-offs, counselors cut, etc.) while spending millions on pet projects? I guess the projects were higher priorities for them. This levy money will be allocated and spent by the very same people with the very same priorities. Did you know that this week, at the same time that the District is saying they have to make drastic cuts to classrooms the Board is going to commit to spending $2.5 million on virtual desktops? Yep. That's their spending priority.
How will the levy be spent? There's no telling. The levy money will just go into the District's Operations fund along will all of the other money. Once it's in there no one can tell those dollars apart. They will all look and spend the same. There's no oversight committee for this levy. There won't be any report on how it was spent. It will just get spent like all of the rest of the District's money. Perhaps the best way to know how the levy was spent will be to identify the $14 million worth of the lowest priority spending for the District next year. That's the money that they wouldn't have if the levy had failed and that's what the levy will have bought.
Any talk about how the levy will be spent is intentionally deceptive.
"The community is behind this levy"
This would be the same community that unanimously agrees that Seattle Public Schools has been horribly mismanaged? Such as the mayor who suggested that the city should take over the failing District? Such as the city officials who refuse to sink any of their own money into the District without strict contracts? Such as the state officials who reel in horror at the District's mismanagement? Also, how typical of the establishment to identify elected officials as "the community". Hot tip: the People are the community.
"That three percent represents nearly $50 million for schools."
Actually $48.2 million - and that's over three years so it works out to about $16 million a year. Let's not pretend that it's more. It's less than 3% of the budget. The schools will get 97 cents instead of a dollar.
"Our schools have been taking cuts for years and now these cuts are hitting bone."
Again, District budget has gone UP each of the past several years and the cuts to classrooms have been necessary to support a bloated central administration.
"All the audit findings are being addressed"
Actually, no, they aren't. What the District has done is commit to a plan to form a team to address the audit findings. Read the Board's resolution on audit response at this week's Board meeting. You will find their action plan filled with inaction verbs.
"the district is on the right track"
No. It isn't. The District is going to commit to spending $2.5 million on computer upgrades this week. At their last meeting they committed to spending over $700,000 to upgrade their web site. These are higher priorities than classrooms? Hmmm. Doesn't sound like the right track to me.
"Eighty-five jobs have been cut from central administration"
No. Not really. The District simply re-classified a lot of those jobs. They now claim them as working in schools instead of the headquarters, but they are still the same people doint the same work. The district initially claimed that they were letting go of 90 people but acknowledged that five of the positions they were eliminating would be replaced by five new positions. They got so tired of being called out on that obvious lie that they finally stopped telling it.
More...
"horrific state cuts to education"
"So the cuts continue: $32 million from Seattle schools since 2008 with more on the way."
Funding for Seattle Public Schools has risen each of the past several years. There have NOT been cuts to the District budget. This talk of cuts is a flat-out lie.
"This levy will fund priority items"
If the District's budget has been cut, then how has the District leadership justified cuts to classrooms and schools (bigger class sizes, teacher lay-offs, counselors cut, etc.) while spending millions on pet projects? I guess the projects were higher priorities for them. This levy money will be allocated and spent by the very same people with the very same priorities. Did you know that this week, at the same time that the District is saying they have to make drastic cuts to classrooms the Board is going to commit to spending $2.5 million on virtual desktops? Yep. That's their spending priority.
How will the levy be spent? There's no telling. The levy money will just go into the District's Operations fund along will all of the other money. Once it's in there no one can tell those dollars apart. They will all look and spend the same. There's no oversight committee for this levy. There won't be any report on how it was spent. It will just get spent like all of the rest of the District's money. Perhaps the best way to know how the levy was spent will be to identify the $14 million worth of the lowest priority spending for the District next year. That's the money that they wouldn't have if the levy had failed and that's what the levy will have bought.
Any talk about how the levy will be spent is intentionally deceptive.
"The community is behind this levy"
This would be the same community that unanimously agrees that Seattle Public Schools has been horribly mismanaged? Such as the mayor who suggested that the city should take over the failing District? Such as the city officials who refuse to sink any of their own money into the District without strict contracts? Such as the state officials who reel in horror at the District's mismanagement? Also, how typical of the establishment to identify elected officials as "the community". Hot tip: the People are the community.
"That three percent represents nearly $50 million for schools."
Actually $48.2 million - and that's over three years so it works out to about $16 million a year. Let's not pretend that it's more. It's less than 3% of the budget. The schools will get 97 cents instead of a dollar.
"Our schools have been taking cuts for years and now these cuts are hitting bone."
Again, District budget has gone UP each of the past several years and the cuts to classrooms have been necessary to support a bloated central administration.
"All the audit findings are being addressed"
Actually, no, they aren't. What the District has done is commit to a plan to form a team to address the audit findings. Read the Board's resolution on audit response at this week's Board meeting. You will find their action plan filled with inaction verbs.
"the district is on the right track"
No. It isn't. The District is going to commit to spending $2.5 million on computer upgrades this week. At their last meeting they committed to spending over $700,000 to upgrade their web site. These are higher priorities than classrooms? Hmmm. Doesn't sound like the right track to me.
"Eighty-five jobs have been cut from central administration"
No. Not really. The District simply re-classified a lot of those jobs. They now claim them as working in schools instead of the headquarters, but they are still the same people doint the same work. The district initially claimed that they were letting go of 90 people but acknowledged that five of the positions they were eliminating would be replaced by five new positions. They got so tired of being called out on that obvious lie that they finally stopped telling it.
11
@3 and @4 Will in Seattle
I guess you didn't notice, but among those opposed to the supplemental school levy is a two-time candidate for the school board. How about you pay attention before you make assumptions?
I guess you didn't notice, but among those opposed to the supplemental school levy is a two-time candidate for the school board. How about you pay attention before you make assumptions?
12
Seattle.
I am not a native so please enlighten me.
Is it go along to get along? As in support the status quo – which in the case of education, seems to be the mantra of unquestioning obligation to, “It’s for the Kids.”
Or, is it a highly educated populace that through reason and logic can decipher beyond the latest PowerPoint marketing?
I am not a native so please enlighten me.
Is it go along to get along? As in support the status quo – which in the case of education, seems to be the mantra of unquestioning obligation to, “It’s for the Kids.”
Or, is it a highly educated populace that through reason and logic can decipher beyond the latest PowerPoint marketing?
13
Not a Native, look. Seattle is now the most childless city of major cities in the U.S. (We used to be number two after San Francisco.) We, as parents, are dependent upon our friends and neighbors to vote in our school levies (some of which are needed because this state doesn't fully fund education but that is TOTALLY different from this discussion). So we have really great people in this city who support public education. And, if you ask most public school parents, they love/like their kid's school.
HOWEVER, the problem is in the dysfunctional, highly entrenched bureaucracy that is the Seattle School district management. We somehow never get a decent superintendent coupled with a smart School Board. Currently we have an ed reform minded Superintendent who seems more about bullet points on her resume than making this district better. We have a smart Board but they seem too scared of her to stand up to her.
The manta of "it's for the kids" or better yet "you're hurting kids" is always brought out for levies. AND we are always promised that the district will be more accountable for the money (but they never are - there is NO ONE who could get a spreadsheet that would clearly account for the levy money and I know because I have tried).
We had a terrible state audit this summer which clearly shows how off course our headquarters is. That the Seattle Times said no (and they are considered somewhat conservative in this town) and the League of Women Voters (a really solid citizen group) takes no position should tell you something (despite both endorsing the two levies in Feb. - yes, we already passed two school levies this year) .
Sure, we could wait until the Board elections next fall but honestly, this district needs some cold water in their faces now, not next fall.
The first line of defense in democracy is the voter. That's you and this is the time. Vote no and tell the district the first priority IS the classroom.
More...
HOWEVER, the problem is in the dysfunctional, highly entrenched bureaucracy that is the Seattle School district management. We somehow never get a decent superintendent coupled with a smart School Board. Currently we have an ed reform minded Superintendent who seems more about bullet points on her resume than making this district better. We have a smart Board but they seem too scared of her to stand up to her.
The manta of "it's for the kids" or better yet "you're hurting kids" is always brought out for levies. AND we are always promised that the district will be more accountable for the money (but they never are - there is NO ONE who could get a spreadsheet that would clearly account for the levy money and I know because I have tried).
We had a terrible state audit this summer which clearly shows how off course our headquarters is. That the Seattle Times said no (and they are considered somewhat conservative in this town) and the League of Women Voters (a really solid citizen group) takes no position should tell you something (despite both endorsing the two levies in Feb. - yes, we already passed two school levies this year) .
Sure, we could wait until the Board elections next fall but honestly, this district needs some cold water in their faces now, not next fall.
The first line of defense in democracy is the voter. That's you and this is the time. Vote no and tell the district the first priority IS the classroom.
14
WOW!!!! ... the District is a complete financial mess. Priorities are wacko. Take a look at spending on consultants and outside services like the NO Bid $800,000 NTN contract and the multi-millions spent on MAP testing. The idea that the 3% will cut to the bone is laughable given the way money has been wasted in the last 12 months.
15
Sorry, Schools First, it is time to send a message that entitlement spending must be stopped. And since this levy makes up only 3% of the budget it is the perfect opportunity to Vote NO and stop the insanity spending (millions to constultants, millions for MAPs, and of course the infamous carving stations!)
VOTE NO....and put our schools first!
VOTE NO....and put our schools first!
Comments (15) RSS