Welcome. My name is Dr. Dwane Chappelle and I serve
as the proud director of the City Department of
Education and Early Learning.
So I just want to thank you all for being here today.
Can we just give some finger snaps just for being here?
We're actually gathered here today because Seattle's
families, educators, and communities showed up at
the ballot last November.
and at the community meetings and conversations
throughout the city to say it clear that our
children deserve more.
And I'm loving looking around, seeing our young people
either playing, pointing, and just being
actively engaged today.
So thank you, young folks, for being here.
I want to thank Mercer, Aki.
I'm not sure if Denny Middle School is here.
Washington Middle School, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. King, Mike Brown, and others
for making sure our young scholars are gonna be here.
But 80% of voters approved the $1.3 billion renewal
of the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy
as part of the city's Every Child Ready initiative.
80% is not just a number.
It's a mandate, a community declaration that every
child, yes I said it, every child in this wonderful city
deserves the opportunity to thrive from birth to career.
And I'm honored to serve as your emcee today to introduce
our fabulous speakers that are gathered here and
to welcome the community partners and young people
that are here in attendance.
But most importantly, to celebrate this next
milestone of the FEPPPP levy.
So what I'd like to do now is introduce our
fantastic mayor, Wilson.
come on up and share some remarks.
Let's give her a round, y'all.
Thank you, Dr. Chappelle.
Well, I am very, very excited to be here today to announce the
six-year plan that implements the levy that was proposed
by Mayor Harrell and passed by voters last year.
The plan that I'm announcing today will direct the resources
secured by the levy to provide additional support and
opportunities for children and make Seattle more
affordable for parents and families.
Together, these investments can
begin to change what it is like to raise a family
in this city.
We are building on the principles
that underlie our free and universally accessible
public K-12 education system by offering more of what
our kids need to succeed.
And we are making major investments in our children
that will help to make the city more affordable for all the
families who call Seattle home.
We're talking about major new investments in child
care, preschool, after school and summer programs,
mentoring, tutoring, health care, school meals, college
and career pathways, and more.
This is exciting stuff.
These are investments that reduce costs, open doors, and
make Seattle a better place to live, work, and raise a family.
There is a lot in this plan and we will have all of those
details available for you all.
But I want to focus today on just a few of the key new
investments that we're making.
First, this plan expands the Seattle Preschool Program so
that more classrooms can operate all day, all year long,
including through the summer.
The Seattle Preschool Program already serves
thousands of children with high-quality learning
environments, setting them up for success in
kindergarten and beyond.
All three and four-year-olds in Seattle are eligible, and
tuition is free for most Seattle families.
This program is an incredible success,
but there's a problem.
Many of these programs end at two or three in the
afternoon. Most people's jobs do not end in the
mid-afternoon, so working parents are forced to scramble
for additional care to cover the full workday.
Often programs also close during the summer,
even though most parents still have to work and their schedules
don't change.
This creates the kind of logistical
scramble that parents know all too well.
And it's not just a hassle.
It can mean fewer hours on
the job for parents, less opportunity to learn
during the summer for kids, and just a general
feeling that raising a family is much harder than
than it needs to be.
Expanding the preschool program to serve kids all day
and all year is an overdue step to recognize the realities
faced by working parents.
And I am so glad that we are finally making it happen.
In addition to this, we are also increasing
the support provided through the Child Care
Assistance Program, which makes childcare
more affordable affordable for thousands
of Seattle families.
And we are investing in the child care workforce
by supporting the providers, the teachers,
and the family child care workers who make
early learning possible.
Second, I'm very excited about this one, we are going to
provide free school meals to to every student
in every school.
Beginning this fall, my plan will extend
free breakfast and lunch so that every student at
every Seattle public school gets nutritious meals and
starts the day ready to learn.
This means no stigma, no eligibility bubble that
squeezes out struggling families just because they
miss some threshold set by the federal
government. K-12 education is free and universal
and the basic nutrition that you need to be ready
to learn is going to be free and universal too.
That means a better start for kids, a better
learning environment for teachers, and fewer
groceries that families have to buy to keep their kids healthy.
Hungry kids have a harder time focusing and a harder time
succeeding in class.
By making sure that food is
available and accessible to all, we are making a
serious investment in the long-term health of our
communities. And if you're staying for the reception, you
will get a taste of what a big deal this is because
our partners at Seattle Public Schools have
provided the catering.
Third, we are going to provide free mental health care to
all Seattle teens and young adults, open up new school-based
health centers, and expand mentorship opportunities.
We know that youth mental health is a growing concern, but
accessing care can be difficult and expensive.
Today, that change is for good.
I am proud to announce my plan will provide access to free
mental health supports for all Seattle teens and young
adults for the six-year life of this lobby.
We are also opening up additional school-based
health centers which will provide students
with free primary care, dental health services, and more.
And we're addressing the whole child by also creating access
to mentorship opportunities which connect students to
mentors from organizations with established trust
and cultural connection to the communities
that they serve.
Mentors will also collaborate with school staff to support
youth reentry, reduce chronic absenteeism and more.
By connecting young people with counselors, clinicians,
and community-based services, we can make sure that every
young person has a chance to be seen, heard, and receive the
support they need.
And fourth, we are opening new pathways to
good jobs after school.
This plan will expand and strengthen young people's
access to good jobs whether or or not they choose
to go on to college.
This includes new apprenticeship programs
that connect young people to high demand trades
from cement masons to maritime training.
And the Seattle Promise Program initiated by Mayor Durkan
will continue to provide every Seattle Public School
graduate with tuition free access to Seattle colleges,
as well as wraparound support to make sure
they can succeed and graduate.
We are going to make sure that every young Seattleite has
a clear, supported path to a living wage career.
Seattle is a beautiful city with so much to offer.
I might be biased, but I think that Seattle is the
best city in the world.
But we know that it can be way too difficult
to raise a child here.
The affordability crisis has hit families especially hard.
Groceries are more expensive than ever.
Childcare is more expensive than ever.
It's tough to find housing in the city that offers
enough space for a family and if you do it's a good
bet that rent is going to be more expensive than ever too.
There's a lot that we can do to make Seattle a great place to
live, work, and raise a family.
The investments that we're making today take a big
step in that direction.
And we're also sending a message to parents who are
trying to make it here.
This is your city.
We want you raising your families here.
And we're doing everything we can to make it easier for you
to afford to build a life here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mayor, for your announcement.
So what I have the pleasure now of doing is, you know, before
I introduce this next speaker, I just want to call someone
out that's not speaking today.
I thought I saw Councilmember Lin here somewhere.
Oh, okay.
I just want to give Councilmember
Lin a shout out.
I just want to say hello, welcome,
thank you for everything.
This is our, one of our phenomenal Councilmembers.
But it's now my honor to introduce our next speaker,
which is Council Member Rivera, who represents
Council District 4 and is the chair of the Libraries
Education Neighborhoods Committee, which will
review this FEPP legislation.
I've had the pleasure of working with Councilmember Rivera for
quite some time, and I can tell you all single-handedly
that Councilmember Rivera is deeply passionate about the
FEPP investments for Seattle's kids, for our families, and
she's even more particularly passionate about the new Trace
to Path work, which carries on her father's legacy as a welder.
So without further ado, Councilmember
Rivera, come on up.
All right, thanks.
I'm a little shorter than Dwane and then Mayor Wilson, too.
All right, can you hear me or did I turn this off?
You turned it off.
Did I turn it off?
Say something.
Thank you.
Thank you, Director Chappelle and Mayor Wilson.
And good afternoon and buenas tardes, everyone.
I am so excited to be here and I'm so excited that the weather
is held up for us so we can do this event outside.
I am so happy to talk about the implementation
of the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy that
former Mayor Harrell and I worked on to put on the ballot
and that Mayor Wilson is presenting today, but
more importantly that you all generously supported
supported and voted in this past November.
This renewal will continue or expand prior
levy investments in child care, award winning
preschool, not just preschool, but award winning
preschool, K through 12 academic, physical and mental
health supports so that students students have the help they
need to learn and grow in the very successful Universal
Seattle Promise Program.
The Promise Program, as Dr. Chappelle mentioned,
is really meaningful to me
because I was here when Mayor Jenny Durkan proposed this
as part of the last levy and I was so grateful to have
the opportunity to work with Dr. and Director Dwane Chappelle
on its implementation.
Thank you also to Chancellor Rosie
who had a hand in the 13th year.
Where's Chancellor Rosie?
She had a hand in the 13th year which is actually
the precursor to the the Seattle Promise and then
became the Seattle Promise.
So as I always say, when we work together,
we have better outcomes.
And you see, we've named here people
from prior administrations and current administrations
working together on behalf of families and kids in Seattle.
With each levy renewal and its investments,
we identified additional areas where we can continue
to take care of our kids in Seattle.
In this case, the department working with Seattle
Public Schools, and shout out to Superintendent
Ben Schildener, where's Superintendent?
There he is, will work together to re-engage disconnected youth.
We know that kids are most successful when they
consistently attend school.
These investments in mentorship, in absenteeism interventions,
and reentry support will help students stay engaged
and stay in school.
And along with supporting kids who are struggling
to stay engaged in school, all kids need support
and ensuring they're able to show up in school well
fed and ready to learn.
Mayor Wilson and the department with my support are proposing
utilizing FEPP dollars as bridge funding to provide
universal public school meals.
This was Governor Ferguson's initial commitment to kids in
this year's past state budget, but will not begin in 2029.
And I really thank you, Mayor Wilson, for making this
possible in Seattle sooner and not waiting until 2029.
Lastly, but equally importantly, oh and I want to mention,
thank you for mentioning the path to trades because
it's something that is very near and dear to my heart.
My dad was a welder in a factory and for me it made all
the difference in our family.
We grew up very low income in the Bronx, in New York.
I'm Puerto Rican.
And because my dad had a union job, we were
able to have a roof over our head and food on the table.
And because of that, the path to
trades is so critical to me.
It is another opportunity for kids that don't want to enter
a four-year college degree or a two-year college degree,
which, associate's degree, which Promise gives them.
They can do a Path to Trades instead.
And I am so grateful to the Seattle Colleges for
their partnership in the Path to Trades program.
Yes, we should really recognize all the great work that's
being done at South Seattle College on the Path to Trades.
And to our very many of our labor partners who are here,
who really support this effort, it is an important effort.
And so this is, because of this effort, kids will be
able to do, it's an expanded path to trades, and also be
able to enter, as Director Chappelle and Mayor Wilson
said, apprenticeship programs.
So I am really pleased about that.
When I started in 2024, it was a thing that I talked to
Director Chappelle about right away when we were envisioning
the renewal of this levy.
So I'm just so grateful for this program.
And then lastly, but equally importantly, is the evaluation
part of the implementation and evaluation plan,
which will ensure these investments are actually
helping our kids.
This plan will provide metrics to continuously measure and
track the outcomes and successes of the levy-funded programs
programs or help us make changes if what we're
doing is not working.
And I was just talking to the superintendent earlier,
when things are not working, we need to make
changes in support of our kids to ensure that
they are successful.
And as you know, evaluation is the essential piece to that.
The city and the taxpayers need to have confidence
in our investments and and know that we are
delivering on the promises that we're making to our
families and our kids.
A robust evaluation plan allows us to both show our work,
show our positive outcomes, and it'll let us know quickly
if changes need to be made.
So I'm so excited to be here in support
of the implementation plan and of this 36th
year of this levy.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.
I guess I better move this up a little bit.
So now what I would like to invite is, I would
like to invite three individuals to the microphone.
Martha Diaz, who is the director at the El Centro
Jose Marti Child Care Center in Columbia City.
Also Brenda Figueroa and Oloth Insyziengmay, I think I got it
right, Insyziengmay, who are parents of a two-year-old, Zavi.
These individuals are here to speak to the importance
of high-quality child care and the importance of helping
parents afford that care.
That's what Mira mentioned earlier.
So, Deal, we are proud to implement the Child
Care Assistance Program and grants to support child care
workers. So first, we'll hear from Martha.
Come on up.
Is that good enough for you right here?
Yes.
Buenas tardes.
My name is Martha Diaz.
I have been working at El Centro de la Raza for 28 years.
When I first started working at El Centro de la Raza, I
was a young single parent with very little experience
in education.
With the support from my community and some funding from
the city, I was able to continue pursuing higher education.
Some years later, I also benefited from the
City of Seattle Child Care subsidy so I would
so I would be able to continue working while my
children were at child care.
I currently hold a master's degree in bilingual
early childhood education,
and I'm very proud to say that now I am the site director at
Jose Marti Child Development Center at Four Amigos.
I continue serving children, youth, and families
from minority populations to ensure that healthy and
high quality early childhood education while working
with others to enhance childcare through that
community. My commitment as a Childcare Director is for
our children to learn about social, political and
cultural contests within the children and families,
their lives, how they grow and their developments.
And model strategies for supporting children in
in resisting bias, rejecting negative cultural messages,
and developing their own selves of cultural self.
I believe that it takes advocates, teachers, children,
and parents working together to build a community
and work towards justice and peace.
Advocating constantly for parents to have access
to high quality subsidies and to make change in our society.
Thank you, City of Seattle, for providing child care
assistance for working families.
Your support reflects your commitment to the community
and needs for the future.
Gracias.
- Hola, mi nombre es Brenda Figueroa Garcia.
Hi this is Brenda Figueroa Garcia.
Soy la mamá de Xavi Figueroa, un niño
muy feliz y curioso.
¿Y quién es lo mejor que me ha pasado en la vida?
I am the parent of Xavi.
He is
a very curious child and is the best thing that has
happened to me in my life.
We are CCAP participants for the city of Seattle.
Which gives us child care, which is very hard
for us in this economy.
And in this costly city.
We are very happy to be part of this program.
Without it we would be struggling even more.
I would like to propose to the leaders in this community
To invest in more programs like these.
Because more families like us need and deserve
these programs and access.
A este tipo de recursos para que sus hijos puedan vivir
y prosperar en Seattle.
So their children can be, so they can thrive in Seattle.
De igual manera que otras familias que viven en
esta hermosa ciudad.
Equally as other families that live in the city.
Gracias al Centro for Amigos y al programa CCAP.
Thank you to El Centro de la Raza and for the
City of Seattle CCAP.
Que le ha dado a nuestro hijo y a nuestra familia la
habilidad de vivir feliz.
To be able to give our child the ability to
be happy in this city.
Please do more for the immigrant and refugee communities.
We ask you to please consider and do more for
our families and refugee families.
Gracias. Thank you.
Hi my name is Oloth Insyziengmay.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak.
I really appreciate the
opportunity for my family.
My son's over there, he's two years old
he's uh got quite a lot
of energy
I think the most thing I got to say is that yes,
this is a great step towards a big problem in
our city affordability.
But ditto to everything my partner said.
And also like, yeah, there's so many challenges in the city and
just a small investment in our refugee.
We come from a refugee immigrant community.
And we just would like to see more investments, not just in
programs like these, but in just access to resources, more
access to resources in the city.
We're lucky we have the privilege to be in this
situation because we have network, we have community.
But there's a lot of folks out there that aren't seen,
that don't have access to resources.
And I think we have to do more to create resources and
do more to provide access to resources.
That's basically all I got to say.
Again, I love this city.
I wanna stay in this city and exist in this city.
And I think a lot of families that come from our community
want the same thing.
And, you know, we just call on city leaders,
officials and otherwise to
make a bigger investment in our communities.
And so thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
So to try to speed us up a little bit, so
So next we have Superintendent Ben and Sabi Yoon.
Please join me to the podium.
Superintendent Ben is, as you all know, new to the city.
I think he's been here less than 90 days,
but he's been doing a phenomenal job.
I'm happy to know that he's already a big fan
of the FEPP Levy.
This is my first actually opportunity to do so publicly.
But so thank you on behalf of the city of Seattle.
looking forward to continuing to support you.
Sabi, you all, is one of our next
leaders. She's fantastic.
She's on her way to California to college, coming up soon,
but Sabi's also a SPS student board representative
and as well on the Youth Commission.
So Sabi, we'll let you go first and
Sabi, we'll go to you.
Thank you for the introduction, Director Chappelle.
My name is Sabi Yoon.
I am a youth leader in Seattle.
I currently serve as one of three student representatives
for the Seattle Public Schools and also a youth commissioner
for Seattle Youth Commission.
Last spring, I stood with many of our community
members here today when we announced the
renewal of the FEPP levy.
Over the past year, I've been involved in helping
plan how the levy investment investment will be allocated
for our communities and schools in collaboration with DL.
There are many programs this levy is funding, but
I want to specifically highlight its investment
towards school lunches and nutrition.
As a member of the City of Seattle's School Meals and Food
Education Working Group, we have been working hard to ensure
that student voice, community input, and equity are centered
in shaping our recommendations.
Through youth listening sessions, community
engagement, we heard clearly that food access,
education, and quality are what matters deeply to
students. Based on that, our working group focused on
three key priorities, two of which are being funded
by Levy.
First, working towards universal free school
meals so every student has consistent access to
to food without stigma or barriers.
Second, improving the quality of school meals
by improving staff capacity and SPS culinary services
so meals are fresher, more culturally relevant,
and aligned with student preferences.
We are very grateful that the FEPP levy
will be funding these priorities and that the levy investments
will also support SPS in implementing a universal
school meals district-wide, lining with what we
have been advocating for as a working group.
These investments will not
only serve meals but support student health,
reduce food insecurity and waste, and help build
a more equitable local food system that supports
both students and the Seattle community as a whole.
Lastly, I want to shed light on something
I heard from many students during listening sessions.
Food security is safety.
When we talk about safety we often think
about physical security but safety means different things
to many different students and communities after
speaking with students from diverse backgrounds
we learned that being safe can simply just well
not very simply but can mean knowing if they will
have a food next thing on their table it can mean
maybe the only meal they have is at school one of
One of my greatest mentors told me that your budget is your
value statement because what you fund shows what you value.
And I think this work shows that we are choosing to prioritize
students and their needs.
So I just want to thank all of our community partners and
leaders for standing with our students and staying
committed to this work.
Thank you.
Good afternoon, everyone.
First of all, I'll give it up to Sabi.
That's awesome.
This is what SPS does, right?
So I want to say thank you.
Thank you to the mayor.
Thank you to the council.
Thank you to Deal.
Thank you to everybody who is here to make this possible.
And really also to the taxpayers.
The fact that you voted overwhelmingly to
support this is wonderful.
As Dwane said, and as you all know, I am not from here.
The idea that the city is giving more money to the schools,
to the children, because they think that is what's
important, that is incredible.
This does not happen in other places.
And I just want to say thank you to all of you.
I see our board president.
Thank you to the board for being so supportive
of what we're doing.
Thank you to the students that were here.
Really, I just get to say thank you.
But I want to say also, think about what we're talking about.
Thank you to the chancellor.
We're going to have the Seattle Promise.
How amazing is that?
We're going to have free lunch.
We're going to have all these wonderful supports.
I see laborers here.
Thank you to the teachers union
for being in our classrooms and in our schools, all
of our labor partners.
But what I'm hearing is all of these amazing things
are happening in SPS.
So it's time for everybody to come back to SPS.
We've got almost 20,000 kids who live in the city who
don't come to our schools.
Now you have even more reason to come back to our schools.
Our schools are doing an incredible job.
We have some of the greatest
programs in the country.
And I've now visited, I think, 92 out of our 106
schools in the last 90 days.
And every place I go, I see incredible teachers,
incredible educators, great children, great families.
And I know that our schools are great.
And I just want to say thank you for this extra
investment that's going to make our schools even better.
And I say to everybody in SPS, come on back.
Everybody in Seattle, come on back.
We're going to be the greatest public education
system in America.
Thank you very much.
All right, thank you.
So these are some powerful words, what he
just said, aren't they?
That was very powerful.
The helicopter is also powerful too, but we have made it to
the career speakers, the ready to launch speakers who will
share a vision of College and Career Pathway and access to
to our Seattle students.
I had the pleasure earlier to speak with DeVaughn.
So DeVaughn, Chancellor Rosie, please join me up here.
And as you all are coming up, DeVaughn Woods is an SPS graduate.
Any Cleveland Eagles in the house?
Any Cleveland Eagles?
All right, he's a Cleveland Eagle, amazing school.
He's gonna share a little bit about,
he's a Cement Mason here to share
little bit of story with us and chancellor rosie
is the chancellor of Seattle colleges i think
council member revera mentioned earlier um the founder of the
13th year scholarship when you were the president at
south seattle so these are both fearless advocates
but without further ado DeVaughn, I'm gonna pass it to you.
- Appreciate it, appreciate it.
- Sorry for the appearance, I came straight from work.
But I understand how important this levy is
for a lot of children, so good afternoon, excuse me.
- May I get you closer to the mic?
- Oh, can't hear me?
Good afternoon and thank you for being here.
My name is DeVaughn Woods.
I'm a former student at Cleveland High School and
I'm currently a member of the Cement Mason and
Plasters Local 528.
I'm the final stretch of
my training to become a journey level cement mason
through the Washington State Mason Apprenticeship
Program at South Seattle Seattle Community
College at Georgetown.
I am honored to have this opportunity
to be here with you today and talk about the Seattle,
assuming the city of Seattle's FEPP Levies
new path to trade opportunity, which connects Seattle
high school graduates with the apprenticeship
program at Seattle colleges like the Cement Masons.
During my apprenticeship, I have learned many
different skills from how to place
and finish concrete, different types of equipment
operation, workplace safety, math processes, along
with critical skills like time management,
reliability, and leadership, all while earning wages
and being a provider.
This trade has taught me skills
that no one could take away from me.
Beyond all these things, I feel though
that many lessons I've gained access to a career.
This career provided me with a
living wage, I apologize, that's probably my wife.
This career provided me with a living wage,
retirement, and health insurance for my family.
This kind of opportunity sets people up for a lifetime
of stability and success.
I really wish a program like Path to Trades has been
been available when I graduated.
With this kind of program I could have
started sooner and got at the head start on building
my future.
These reasons are why I'm excited today about
the City of Seattle's investment in these pathways
which will help future young people in our community
connect with strong union careers that will allow
them to earn while they learn and build a real life
for themselves and their families through good
union trade careers.
Seattle Public Schools and the Seaman Mason Apprenticeships
have both been critical to my story and I hope that
the path to the trades that they can play the
same role for thousands of Seattle students
in the years ahead.
Thank you for this chance to be heard.
Thank you, DeVaughn.
My name is Dr. Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap.
I serve as the Chancellor for the Seattle
Colleges. As has been mentioned a
couple of times, I've been around a little while.
I was very proud to be a
part of 2007-2008, the launch of what was
once called the 13th year program at South Seattle
College, which started this initial concept
that maybe we can make some decent change if we
guarantee high school to a class of students and it
has been my life's honor my career's honor really
to see how this has evolved into something that the
entire city has embraced that the city along with
the the public school system and families have really rallied
around as a really fitting bookend for the FEPPPP-Levy work
that really seeks to support young people from preschool
all the way to college.
College is really all about what comes after it, and
whether it is heading off into a transfer degree,
which our students do successfully on a regular basis.
Our graduates that go through from the Seattle colleges that
transfer over to the University of Washington, for example,
perform higher, get higher GPAs than the students that start
there on average, as an example.
And, well, we're very proud of that.
Yes, thank you.
We have always had trades programs and workforce
development programs in the Seattle colleges.
In fact, we are the largest apprenticeship provider
in the state of Washington.
We produce about a third of the state's apprenticeships.
So another shout out to our cement mason
partners that are here, because they are an
incredible example of what partnership looks like
when we can come together and really seek to meet
industry needs and really achieve some wonderful outcomes
for our citizens and our neighbors.
So thank you to DeVaughn and thank you to our partners
that have been a part this with us every step
of the way.
We're really excited about what we've been
able to accomplish in the first, in our first time
being a part of the FEPP levy.
We are reaching 70% of the city's high school,
high school graduating classes.
70% of students are applying to the Seattle
Promise program across the city.
That's incredible.
That's more than 2,500 Seattle Public High School seniors.
We are clearly meeting a need and a desire that's out there
and really expanding the concept of access to higher education
Beyond the other wonderful opportunities that we have
in in in the city just up the road at UW for example
But a community colleges stand in the like our stand
in the place in between
Transfer to the universities and and wonderful fields
in workforce education and in the skilled trades.
And I'm really thrilled to have the support
of city council members, such as city council
member Rivera, the mayor's office,
DEEL, of course, and so many others
who have supported the concept of Seattle Promise
and what we can provide for students.
We're really delivering on that promise.
We're meeting real demand from students and from families.
And we turn that into real outcomes,
connecting students to education and careers that allow them to
stay and work here in Seattle.
We're really thrilled to be a part of it, to continue to
be a part of it.
We have well established partnerships
as I mentioned with the city, the state, and trade
unions, and we're driven by student success in
the Seattle colleges and we define that by
consistent advising, those those wraparound
supports, financial support beyond tuition,
and clear pathways from enrollment all the way through
to employment or transfer, if that's what our
students seek to do.
But access alone does not drive outcomes.
Structure and direction do as well.
These programs lead to real careers,
whether it's electricians, welders, cement masons,
plumbers, aircraft mechanics, IT specialists,
healthcare technicians, and many, many more.
We know we have high quality programs.
We know we're invested in skilled trades here in Seattle,
and we know we have experienced faculty and strong
industry partnerships that continue to support that.
We want to keep these pathways clear for students because
it hasn't always been clear.
If students, so many highly educated people in the city of
Seattle, it's not always clear to a student what opportunities
they have in the skilled trades if they aren't exposed
to it, for example.
And so it's really important that path to trades
is really going to help increase that exposure
to skilled trades from a young age.
Students as young as ninth grade
being able to look and see what they can do in this city in
addition to the many IT careers and healthcare careers that are
out here for them.
And take that all the way to
by the time they reach 12th grade they will have
what they need to make informed decisions about their future.
So expanding horizons for opportunity early on so
that students can feel ready to choose and engage when
they enroll in Promise.
We know that there are more trades jobs in Seattle than
there are trained workers.
So we are hoping and planning with Path to
Trades to close that gap.
We're connecting students to training and training
directly to jobs.
We're elevating programs that we know are in high demand within
the state and are projected to continue to be high demand.
We are achieving public good.
Higher education is often thought as a private
good, something that an individual does for
themselves. I have known as a first
generation college student that that was never the case.
It was always for my family and for my community as well.
A lot of nodding in the audience because that
was your experiences too.
We know that when we have come together across
the city to seek to make college access, including
access to skilled trades programs and workforce
development programs available to all by lowering
barriers, we are not just improving one student at a time.
We are improving the whole community and
the whole city with us.
And so please, I'm pleased to be the bookend for this as we
represent the tail end of the Promise Program along the
pathway from preschool.
But I just want to punctuate my remarks by saying we
are achieving public good.
We are changing our city's trajectory for the future.
And I couldn't be more proud to serve alongside all of you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, DeVaughn.
Thank you, Chancellor.
So I'm actually going to call Marissa
up here to close us out.
I know we're over time, but before I do, I just want to say
this is exactly what it's about.
We have elected officials here, we have appointed
officials such as myself, board director Top, community
member, former elected Dawn Mason, but it's all
about us collectively coming together and making sure
that we are doing what's best for our kids.
So I want to thank you all for that.
Mayor, before we ask Marissa to take
some questions, I'm going to turn it over to you.
Would you like to close us out with anything?
Thank you, Dr. Chappelle.
I'll just say thank you again everyone for being here.
The implementation of this levy is going to be
such a significant step forward for children,
for families in Seattle.
And also we know that it's not the only step
we need to take.
There is more work to be done.
I as mayor am committed to
making Seattle not just the best city in the world
but the best city in the world to raise a family
in. And we know that that's a tall order and it's
going to take all of us.
So just thank you all for your commitment and much
work to come in the years ahead.
Thanks. All right, thank you everyone.
My name is Marissa Rousselle with the Department of
Education and Early Learning.
That concludes our program of speakers.
So we have a couple minutes for questions.
I'd like to invite our colleagues
in the media if anyone has a question.
Sure. There was a lot of talk about
the trades and whatnot, but currently the Wood Technology
Center off of 23rd may or may not be, has funding challenges
associated with, is any of this levy going to go into making
sure that the Wood Technology Center is open since there has
been such a need for partners?
Yeah, thank you for the question about the
Woods Technology Center.
That is not a planned investment as part of this levy at the
moment, and I'd invite you to talk to other colleagues
here, folks from the colleges that can share more information
with you.
Any other questions?
Could you explain how the levy priorities were
organized and how we can start the conference this year?
So I believe the question is about how the levy investments
are organized.
So it's a six-year spending plan
Many of the investments are starting this year in
2026 calendar year as well as school year 26 27 and some
will start in the second year Okay.
And then...
How much priority is it?
Can you hear me?
Priorities for spending were informed by community
engagement as well as a continuation of existing
investments in the 2018 levy.
I can speak with you more after.
I just want to hear from one more reporter.
Thank you.
I wanted to ask about the Seattle preschool program.
The effort to offer classes during the summer and
for a full working day, is that going to reduce
the amount of additional slots that the program
will be able to offer?
I think the estimate last year was 600.
So if so, by how many slots?
Yeah, so Claire is asking a question about the
Seattle preschool program expansion that the mayor
spoke to so we are adding 600 seats over six years
of the levy and we are now introducing a third model
So the program will continue to offer the
school year six-hour model That's primarily implemented
by Seattle Public Schools will also continue our year-round
six-hour model that provides services into the summer
and what is new is a year-round 10-hour day model
all of that is achievable as part of adding 600
slots so there's no reduction in seats as part of that
proposal so that's all the time we have for
questions at this moment I'd like to invite all our
speakers up to take a photograph together.
Both myself as well as representatives and elected
officials will be here if reporters want to do pull-asides
or get any additional quotes.
And everyone is invited to join us for a reception
inside Yesler Community Center.
We have refreshments provided by Seattle Public
Schools and we'll be there until 6 p.m.
Thank you very much.
All right.