Seattle Forward

Preschool Implementation

My committee received a briefing yesterday morning on the Mayor's Implementation Plan for the Seattle Preschool Program. While the Council approved the structure and foundations of the program last summer (and these elements were affirmed by voters in November), there is another layer of operational detail of the program that needs to be reviewed and approved.

We also listened to a presentation from Dr. Jason Sachs, the head of Boston's public preschool program. Seattle has modeled much of its program after Boston, which has dramatically narrowed readiness gaps of its students entering kindergarten. In fact, they have seen so much success in their preschool classrooms that they reworked their kindergarten curriculum too.

Working out the details like program evaluation, provider and student selection processes, application procedures, staff education supports and instructor compensation is crucial to a successful start to this program.

The False Promise of the Death Penalty

Two high-profile death penalty trials are underway in King County Superior Court: the 2009 assassination of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton and the 2007 Christmas Eve mass murders of three generations of the Anderson family in Carnation. Both crimes were horrific, senseless acts of hatred and violence that caused incredibly searing pain, suffering and loss for the victims’ families, friends, neighbors and the broader community.

But, the death penalty delivers nothing more than a false promise.

I was a Seattle police officer in the 1970s. I spent many nights in my patrol car doing exactly what Officer Brenton and his partner, Britt Sweeney, were doing when they were shot. As a Councilmember, I went to Harborview the night Officer Brenton died. I spoke briefly with Officer Sweeney. The targeted murder of Officer Brenton strikes a deep chord of grief within me. As a father of three and grandfather of two, the slaying of the Andersons does the same.

I want swift and certain justice delivered to their killers, but the death penalty won’t provide that swiftness or certainty.

Some people believe they are safer because of the death penalty; they’re not. 

Academics Unite Behind Investments in Early Childhood Education

Last month, leading academics in the field of early childhood education released a statement summarizing the benefits of increased investment in this arena. Hundreds of professors and researchers from across the country have joined the sixty-one founding signatories to show a strong consensus in the academic community on the positive effects of quality early learning. The letter opens as follows:

As policymakers debate investing in quality early childhood education programs, they should note the widespread agreement among researchers about the value of such programs. An extensive body of research in education, developmental psychology, neuroscience, medicine and economics shows that quality early childhood education programs produce better education, health, economic and social outcomes for children, families, and the nation. As researchers, we urge policymakers to make decisions based on the full body of scientific knowledge about early education and child development.

You can read the full statement and see a list of all the signers here: https://sites.google.com/site/ececonsensusletter/.

Looking Upstream

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

President Obama announced a new initiative today—Invest in US—to raise awareness about the value of early learning. The president made the announcement at a White House Summit on Early Learning that Mayor Murray, King County Executive Dow Constantine and I are attending. 

The Summit includes a variety of national experts discussing the critical importance of child development in the first five years of life. What I’ve heard so far has reinforced my belief that we can overcome poverty and close the opportunity gap for our children of color. I make this point in a piece published earlier today by The Stranger. We know what to do. We must continue to build the political will to do it.

Reflections on Ferguson and Seattle

The following article was posted today on Crosscut.

It has been just over a week since the grand jury made its decision in the Ferguson case, my hope is that we can soon get beyond the conflicting evidence presented to the jurors and focus on the undeniable and powerful subtext that permeates this story. Understanding this subtext holds the key to the change I believe we all want to see. We must also identify specific actions that will contribute to this change or risk losing an opportunity to move forward.

Among African Americans, tension and conflict with the police is deeply rooted in decades of mistrust and weariness over police misconduct, corruption and persistent crime in many neighborhoods. It is a relationship that is profoundly troubled and, as we have seen, all too often leads to tragic consequences.

Tragic for black men and boys who are arrested and imprisoned or killed by police at a disproportionate rate. Tragic for black families who often live in neighborhoods with high rates of crime and who urgently desire effective police services. Tragic for entire cities that must carry the moral and monetary costs of this reality.

How did we get here? And, looking forward, what can we do to change it?

Preschool Next Steps and Community Meetings

I joined Mayor Murray and Superintendent Nyland at the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club today to announce the next steps for development of the Seattle Preschool Program.

The City will be forming an advisory committee of providers, parents, teachers, advocates, union representatives, early learning experts and other stakeholders to provide recommendations for a more detailed implementation plan that is due to the Council in February.

The City is also hosting six community meetings over the next few weeks, starting with two this Saturday. Each meeting has a different topic area and is in a different area of the city. 

Below are the remarks I prepared for the press conference this morning:

Thank You Voters for Choosing the Seattle Preschool Program

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

Seattle voters had a clear choice on how to benefit the future generations of Seattle. I am very happy they selected the Seattle Preschool Program (Proposition 1B) crafted by Mayor Ed Murray, the City Council, early learning experts, and a wide variety of local stakeholders.

Yesterday’s vote means we will take a strong first step toward universal, voluntary, high-quality and affordable preschool for Seattle’s children. It is one of the best investments we can make.

The Seattle Preschool Program is based on extensive research on how to best prepare children for kindergarten and a life of learning. We reviewed the evidence of what works, we visited preschools throughout Seattle, we talked with teachers and parents, and we visited other cities to see how they provide universal preschool. At every step in development of the program, we were keenly committed to a critical principle: Quality.

Only quality benefits children for a lifetime. Only quality delivers an impressive return on investment for taxpayers. Only quality will enable our city to leverage dollars from the State and federal governments to provide even more preschool options for Seattle families.

Public Campaign Finance Statement

Consistent with my earlier blog post on this topic, I shared the following statement at the Full Council meeting this afternoon explaining my vote to not move forward a public campaign finance system this year:

We face a tough choice today as we consider this motion, but that’s what we are called to do.

We gather facts. We listen to various perspectives. We weigh the pros and cons of various arguments and then we decide. Sometimes our decisions are simple. Other times, like today, they are not easy; they’re complicated and require a balancing of various interests.

In the end, we make our decisions based on what’s best for the common good; what will benefit our city and region; and, in Seattle, with a special emphasis on what’s best for the most vulnerable among us.

Seattle has a strong and well-regulated campaign finance system, with individual contribution limits less than half those for King County and the State of Washington. Public financing of elections is a solid, progressive and important policy to pursue. We studied this issue extensively last year and asked the voters of Seattle to approve public financing of City Council campaigns. The voters said “no.”

Now we’re being asked to do a repeat this year. The easiest decision would be to put it back on the ballot and say, “let the voters decide again.” But, at what cost and at what risk? That’s where the decision gets difficult.

City Council to Vote on Seattle Preschool Program

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

It’s not very often that local elected officials get to advance public policy with the potential to change our society so fundamentally…let alone twice inside 30 days.

On June 2nd the City Council voted unanimously to adopt Mayor Murray’s minimum wage legislation to reverse years and years of stagnant wages. That was a historic milestone designed to help workers at the bottom of the economic ladder.

This afternoon, just three weeks later, we are about to make another monumental decision that has the potential to reverse decades of lost academic opportunities. We will vote this afternoon to send the Seattle Preschool Program to voters in November.

The plan the City Council will vote on today is based on what works. It was developed through a strong partnership with Mayor Murray. We have followed the evidence and, if we implement it right, we will achieve the same results being celebrated in Boston, Jersey City, Tulsa, Denver, and elsewhere.

Public Campaign Finance: Right Idea, Wrong Time

There has been news coverage recently about how as City Council President I won’t introduce legislation that would send a measure to establish public financing of political campaigns back again to the voters in November.* The Stranger has a story about this in this week’s edition.

Public financing of campaigns is a good idea. Seattle established a system for partial public financing of campaigns in 1978. I helped oversee the later years of that program as a commissioner on the City’s Ethics and Elections Commission. In 1992 a statewide initiative put an end to this practice, but in 2008 the State Legislature allowed local jurisdictions to establish programs through a public vote.

Last year I voted to let Seattle decide if they wanted public campaign financing. The proposed system would have incentivized candidates to reach out to a wider segment of the population by providing matching public funds to small campaign donations; a property tax provided the funds. The voters said “no” by a narrow margin.

This November’s election ballot will have many candidates, issues, and multiple tax measures (including a resurrection of a tax for the monorail!). There’s always risk, however slight, that voters will experience “tax fatigue” and overreact by voting no on measures they might have otherwise supported, such as universal preschool or public transit funding.

At a time when frustration with government is running so high, I want the City to show voters that local government is focused on what’s most important. Maintaining and improving transit service and expanding high-quality preschool for our children top my list of priorities.

*In case you’re wondering, the Council President decides what legislation will be put before the Council and when, but this power is by no means absolute. Any councilmember can make a motion to introduce legislation during a Full Council meeting; councilmembers who favor placing a public finance tax measure on this November’s ballot have not done so. If a majority of the Council wanted to hold further discussions on public campaign finance legislation, that motion would succeed and the legislation would be introduced and referred to committee.