Vote Yes to Maintain Our Schools!

Please vote to Renew this important Seattle Public Schools Capital Levy. Our District is growing! By 2020, another 4,000 Seattle children will join our current 52,000+ students – that’s the equivalent of 8 new elementary schools. To be successful and do well academically our students must have safe, healthy learning spaces in modern facilities.

The Capital Levy replaces an expiring levy and will make sure that students and teachers have a safe learning environment by modernizing fire alarm and school security systems, enhancing earthquake protection, and replacing roofs and heating systems. This levy will also add desperately needed classroom space to help meet growing enrollment and class size reductions. It will also provide needed technology upgrades and science labs while reducing maintenance and repair backlogs. Every student and every school benefits from this levy!

“To keep up with our growing city, we need to add more classrooms and ensure that our older buildings are safe for our students.” – Ed Murray, Mayor of Seattle

This levy is not a new tax. It replaces an expiring Capital Levy. Please vote Yes on the Seattle Schools Capital Levy to renew our commitment to Seattle’s children.

Please vote “No” on this $475.3 million tax plan. This is not a “good” levy.1) The plan plows millions of dollars into headquarters debt. For background Google “$50 million Glass Elephant – Weekly”. 2) The plan wrongly closes Roxhill Elementary School, sending its students to Hughes ($6,746,790). 3) The plan wrongly replaces neighborhood schools with mega schools.

Passing the plan and “fixing it later” does not work. 1) Headquarters debt was supposed to be paid from headquarters “savings”. Levy documents don’t explain this. 2) “Good” levies don’t close schools. 3) “Good” levies don’t shrink playgrounds. Thornton Creek lost half its playground from the last mega school levy, and Loyal Heights is still fighting mega school plans that would shrink its playground 30%. 4) “Good” levies would reopen schools like Cooper and Indian Heritage and African American Academy. This is not a “good” levy.

The District lacks “transparency”. The same goes for City government and the news media when it comes to education. Indian Heritage School is a prime example.

Vote to Renew the expiring Capital Levy to create safe schools for our kids. Seattle is adding 4,000 students in the next few years; we must act now to prepare for the future.

The Con statement is incorrect. Schools are being built and remodeled to provide safety improvements and to add capacity for a growing city. No schools are closed in this levy. In fact, we are adding classrooms.  Vote Yes on Proposition 2.

Statements sent in by:  Ed Murray, Pramila Jayapal, and Kristin Bailey-Fogarty, www.schoolsfirstseattle.org

Indian Heritage School at Wilson Pacific, a Native American Landmark and a City Landmark, was demolished. How? The District sued the City to get a waiver from landmark regulations. The School Board and the Superintendent never discussed this lawsuit with the public. City officials never responded to protests from the community. The Seattle Times refused to report on the lawsuit.

Wrong levies cause real damage. Vote “No”. Thank you.

Statements sent in by:  Chris Jackins and Trena Harmon, 425-322-6184

Complete text of measure

Simple majority (Washington Constitution article VII, section 2(a))

For questions about this measure, contact:  Thomas Redman, Communications Specialist, 206-252-0655, tlredman@seattleschools.org