Mayor sets the bar higher for schools

With more money, more rigorous academic programs and some "tough love," Seattle Public Schools could become one of the best school systems in the country, Mayor Greg Nickels said Wednesday.

Nickels' speech, before a crowd of about 800 who had gathered at a downtown hotel for a fundraising breakfast sponsored by the nonprofit Alliance for Education, was the latest evidence that the once-fractured relationship between the district and City Hall is slowly being repaired.

In the past, Nickels has been a vocal critic of the district's leadership and in 2006 even floated the idea of taking over control of the troubled district.

Although major improvements are still needed, Nickels said, he's impressed that Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who took over last year, is willing to acknowledge the district's problems and is creating a "strategic plan" to address them.

The district is responsible for providing a quality education to all students, he said. "We now have a leader for Seattle Public Schools who has the vision and the skills to keep that promise."

Nickels also called for universal prekindergarten classes, quality public schools in every Seattle ZIP code and more support for struggling students. Graduating students also need to be better prepared for post-secondary education and ready to compete in the global economy, he said.

"We need to look in the mirror and acknowledge we have not set the bar high enough. ... and we need some tough love in order for that to happen," he said.

Nickels didn't specifically suggest how to pay for those programs, but said the city and the state need to muster the political will to improve public education funding. Washington is ranked near the bottom in the nation for education funding per capita, he said, "and we need to adopt an attitude of 'top 10 by 2010.' "

Goodloe-Johnson, who took over the top post in July, was the keynote speaker at the breakfast Wednesday. She unflinchingly recited some of the district's more troubling statistics, such as that nearly 40 percent of high school students don't graduate on time.

"This is unacceptable," she said. "Seattle Public Schools must do business differently, or we will not succeed."

Though she won't release the details of her strategic plan for another week, Goodloe-Johnson shared an outline of the plan and her academic goals for the district.

Those goals may be ambitious, she said, but she's determined.

"We should strive to become a model for the nation," she said. "In a city that is a leader in so many ways, shouldn't we also be a leader in public education?"

The Alliance for Education raises private donations for Seattle Public Schools.