Boosting a levy 99% in a Great Recession: The Seattle Way

With apologies to Chairman Mao, who wasted China's economy with The Great Leap Forward, Seattle's proposed 2011 Families and Education Levy should be dubbed "The Great Leap Upward".

Mayor Mike McGinn and a levy advisory committee want to boost the levy from $116 million in 2004 -- which was itself a 68 percent increase over 1997 -- all the way to $231 million.

The voters are being ask to foot the bill for a 99 percent increase in the midst of a deep recession.

A few minutes after laying out the proposal, Mayor McGinn was asked if he is upbeat about the current performance of the Seattle School District. "I don't think things are working right now," McGinn replied. (He did not give specifics of what isn't working.)

Seattle voters are expected, year after year, to reach deep into their pockets. Joining Families and Education on the fall ballot will likely be a seawall replacement measure, and possibly a(nother) tranportation levy.

The average Seattle home is currently paying about $70 in annual property taxes to support Families and Education. The Great Leap Upward would mean just that -- to $124.

"We believe the city of Seattle believe this is an important investment in their future," McGinn said Wednesday. The levy advisory committee listed its goal in bold face: "All students in Seattle will graduate from high school college and career ready."

Again, I'd borrow words, this time from catcher/manager/philosopher Yogi Berra: It's deja vu all over again.

Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy. Joel Connelly has been a staff columnist for more than 30 years. He comments regularly on politics and public policy.

With the 1990 levy, supporters told voters the levy was intended "to help all Seattle's children become school ready, succeed academically, and graduate from high school."

The 2004 levy came with a goal to "Close the achievement gap and help all children succeed," and to "put a sharper focus on preparing children to be ready for school, improving academic achievement and reducing disproportionalit, and helping students complete school."

But as the Washington Policy Center finds in a new draft analysis: "Today Seattle's drop out rate is 32 percent."

The 2010 Student Progress and High School Proficiency Exam results told us that 31 percent of 4th graders failed in reading, 40 percent of 8th graders failed in math, 25 percent of 10th graders failed in reading, and 55 percent of 10th graders failed in math.

The same problems persist that past levies were supposed to solve. "There continues to be a gap in the rates of achievement for different student groups participating in Levy-funded programs," said the Families and Education Levy Annual Report for 2008-2009.

"Level 1 math students are often two or more years behind grade level and lack basic math skills," the report added.

Mayor McGinn, moments after proposing The Great Leap Upward, acknowledged: "Programs are not consistent from school to school." Hizzoner delivered a somewhat mixed assessment of how schools have performed for his own children.

"As a parent of children in Seattle public schools, I see first hand the caring and professional way classroom teachers work to educate all their students: As a public policy researcher what I see is a lack of resources and support in the classroom, compared to the District's half-billion dollar annual budget," said Paul Guppy of the Washington Policy Center.

Guppy is pretty conservative, but the lack-of-support argument is one I hear constantly from line teachers.

If you look at the Seattle School District's $567 million budget, it works out to about $13,000 per student. Yet, it's the East Side high schools that show up on national top-100 lists.

Programs of The Great Leap Upward, such as school-based health centers and enhanced early learning, are admirable and noteworthy. The idealism of the levy advisory committee leaps out from its recommendations.

Still, we need to ask why the goals of Families and Education, set down in 1990, 1997 and 2004, have not been achieved. Can needed reforms -- e.g. more classroom support, less administrative overhead -- be crafted as a condition of additional support?

Why boost spending by 99 percent when things are not "working right now?"

And why such a big boost in the midst of a Great Recession which has made home ownership precarious for many?

The Great Leap Upward is on a fast track. On Monday, the Seattle City Council will introduce collaborative legislation which will put the new levy before Emerald City voters. A public hearing will be held Thursday, Feb. 17th, at 5:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.

When it comes to the deep bore tunnel, Mayor McGinn said Wednesday: "At some point our leaders need to wake up and smell the recession with respect to this project."

But, apparently, we are expected to nod off and approve a $231 million levy without asking tough, needed questions.