Joined by education advocates, City Councilmembers, and community leaders, Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced her Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise plan to nearly double the children in preschool, increase investments in K-12, and expand access to college through the Seattle Promise College Tuition Program. With both the 2011 Families & Education Levy and 2014 Seattle Preschool Program Levy set to expire this year, Mayor Durkan is proposing the City renews and combines them through a new Families, Education, Preschool and Promise plan. You can view the full action plan and budget here.
“Working together, we can take a major step towards closing the opportunity gap in our City, putting our young people on a path to good-paying jobs, and creating a more affordable future for our City’s children. These investments in quality preschool, K-12 education, and college will build true economic opportunity for our young people,” said Mayor Durkan. “This proposal will also be the first to have built-in relief for the most vulnerable taxpayers in our city, including veterans, disabled and the elderly. To truly build equity, we must work to reduce the impact on those who are the most impacted.”
As proposed, Mayor Durkan’s plan would make seven years of investments to:
- Continue the successful pilot of the Seattle Preschool program and nearly double the number of children in quality preschool from 1,500 in 2018-19 to 2,700 in 2025-26;
- Increase K-12 and community investments to close the opportunity gap, increase teacher diversity, provide support services including for students experiencing homelessness, and help students most at risk of dropping out of school;
- Expand access to college for Seattle public school graduates through support for the Seattle Promise College Tuition Program, which would serve approximately 1,350 high school students participating in college prep and 875 Seattle Promise college students each year.
