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Monday, October 25, 2004
A promise kept, so far
In the September primary, Seattle voters made an impressive commitment to students, families and schools. City leaders seem equally serious about the commitments they made to use the money well.
Voters approved a city Families and Education levy to spend $116 million over seven years. It was the largest levy approved since a 1990 vote to support education with city funds.
Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council designed the renewal around increasing academic achievement, especially among disadvantaged students. Now, they have to make sure that results follow.
The signs so far are encouraging. The mayor has broken out children's expenditures in his budget, giving the council, his staff and the public more ability to track how both levy and general fund money is spent to help families. The new levy money doesn't begin flowing until next September, but better information and improved monitoring is a good head start.
Nickels has also made an excellent move in appointing Holly Miller as head of the Mayor's Office for Education, which oversees the levy expenditures. As a leader of an advisory committee, she helped develop the levy and understands the importance of results.
Miller's exceptional background in education and government will help assure sophisticated tracking of outcomes. Repaying the public's trust requires exactly that, throughout the course of the levy.
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