Look for the Seattle School Levy at the Bottom of the Ballot!

At the very bottom of your ballot is an important Supplemental Levy measure for Seattle Public Schools. As a parent of children in the Seattle public school system I can assure you that the State cuts to public education have drastically impacted programs and services in our schools. Unfortunately Olympia is likely to make more cuts in K-12 education in an effort to deal with a $4.5 billion budget shortfall. Please vote "YES" for this levy.

Forty-seven thousand students in Seattle’s public schools need our help.

The State has reduced funding to Seattle schools by $32 million since 2008. Our schools are facing at least a $28 million shortfall for the 2011-2012 school year.

Voters are being asked to approve a 3-year, $48.2 million levy that will only partially make up for state cuts to education. Funds from this levy will be used to:

• Purchase textbooks and basic classroom materials for elementary music, middle school language arts, and high school social studies and science ($5.9 million); these books will replace worn out and outdated texts and materials.
• Support our teachers with increased collaboration time, career ladders, and an updated teacher evaluation process ($16.8 million); this will allow implementation of the locally and national praised new teacher contract.
• Reduce the number and severity of cuts to educational programs and services in our schools ($25.5 million); this will help ease teacher layoffs and increased class size.

Endorsers of the levy include local PTAs, the Seattle Council of PTSA, the Seattle Education Association (SEA), Principals Association of Seattle Schools, the entire Seattle City Council, League of Education Voters, and 34th, 36th, 37th and 46th District Democrats, and many more individuals and organizations.

 For more information go to www.SchoolsFirstSeattle.org

Thank you,
Barbara Kelley
Parent and Schools First Board Member