Select Comm. on the Families, Education, Preschool & Promise (FEPP) Levy Public Hearing 5/12/2025

Good afternoon, everyone.

The May 12th, 2025 meeting of the Select Committee on Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy will come to order.

It's 5.03 p.m.

I'm Maritza Rivera, chair of the committee.

I would like to note that Councilmember Salomon is excused from today's meeting.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Saka.

Here.

Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Council Member Moore.

Council Member Strauss.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Vice Chair Rink.

Present.

Chair Rivera.

Present.

Six Council Members are present.

If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Will the clerk please read item one into the record?

Agenda item one, Council Bill 120981. An ordinance relating to regular property taxes requesting that a special election be held concurrent with the November 4th 2025 general election for submission to the qualified electors of the city, a proposition to lift the limit on regular property taxes under chapter 84.55 RCW and to authorize the city to levy additional taxes for up to six years for the purpose of providing education support services designated to improve access to early learning, including childcare and preschool, academic, health, and safety supports for K-12 students, and college and career pathways for Seattle students, applying the exemption for low-income seniors, disabled veterans, and others authorized by RCW 84-36-381, authorizing a creation of a designated fund, directing the application of levy proceeds, establishing eligibility requirements for partners, establishing accountability and reporting structures, requiring a forthcoming implementation and evaluation plan, proposing a ballot title, authorizing the implementation of agreements for this levy lid lift, which will be commonly known as the Families Education Preschool and Promise Levy, and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts for briefing and public hearing.

Thank you, this item has been read into the record.

A very long-winded way of saying we support our kids in Seattle.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Before we get started, I wanna thank everyone who's joining us in person or calling in remotely to give public comment and share your thoughts about the family's education, preschool, and promise levy renewal proposal.

Thank you for taking the time to come here and for being engaged.

I very much look forward to hearing from all of you.

Colleagues, I thank you for being here as well.

I know you two are looking forward to hearing from our public commenters.

I wanna thank Director Duane Chappelle and Marissa Roussel from the Department of Education and Early Learning.

ordeal as we affectionately call it at the city for joining us to give a very brief overview of the proposal before we hear from the public.

But first to help set us up for the hearing, as you know for 35 years Seattle voters have invested in our children and our families via our families and education levies in Seattle.

These investments are even more important today as the federal administration continues the attacks on our working families and children.

As a city, we cannot replace every federal program that is being cut and dismantled.

But here is what we can do with this important levy renewal.

We can build on Seattle's decades-long legacy of investing in our children's academic futures to help our working families who are struggling to make ends meet, especially as childcare costs continue to rise.

These high quality early learning programs will set children up for a lifetime of success.

We can help our K-12 students thrive by giving them the academic and health supports they need to be successful in school.

We can pave the way to a bright future by providing universal access, or a path to the trades with our successful Seattle Promise program.

And most importantly, we can work together, even as this administration is trying to tear us apart, Now we will hear from Director Chappelle and then go right into public comment.

Nicole from my team will be clerking along with Deputy Clerk Jody Schwinn.

Thank you to both of you.

Nicole will be reading the names of those who signed up to comment.

Please note there are two microphones you can use.

There's one in the middle and one to your left.

Please line up as your names are being called so you can be next to comment.

Lastly and importantly, please remember to be respectful of others' comments and of our comment process.

Please do not clap after the comments in order to ensure we get to everyone.

But instead, please do jazz hands if you want to show your support.

I also want to thank our security guards who are here this evening, Cedric, Clark, Andy Liu, and Mike Lyons.

And I want to note for the record that Council Member Moore has joined us.

Director Chappelle and Marissa, please state your names for the record and you may proceed.

Thank you.

Good evening, Council Members.

I'm Dr. Duane Chappelle.

Hello, Marissa Roussel.

So again, once again, thank you for this opportunity.

But tonight, we're here just to provide a brief overview of Mayor Harrell's Every Child's Ready vision and proposal for renewal for the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy.

We will keep it short.

As we know, we have community members here present, and we want to ensure that they have an opportunity to share some remarks.

So as we've shared with council previously, the Every Child Ready initiative aims to support every child to be ready to start kindergarten by investing in affordable, high-quality early learning opportunities.

ready to learn in K-12 by creating safe, healthy school environments, and ready to launch into college careers with free tuition at Seattle colleges and additional job training opportunities.

This vision focuses on upstream investments and harnesses evidence, research, and what we've observed here, as you just mentioned, council member in Seattle, in the last 35 years since our first families and education levy.

So when you invest early, you see gains that are sustained as children develop into adolescence and into adulthood.

For every dollar invested in early learning, research shows that a $16 return on investment attributed to academic achievement, prevention of justice involvement, and pursuit of higher education.

This proposed $1.3 billion investment will provide six years of essential funding for Seattle's children, youth, and families.

The Children's Funding Project, which is a respected national nonprofit that collaborates with mayors, governors, philanthropy, and community groups has praised Seattle's funding strategy for children of all ages, calling it a North Star, and that communities across the country are now striving to replicate.

So as we've shared also previously in committee, in the ready to start category, this proposal more than doubles the number of childcare subsidies for families by adding 800 new slots.

We also recognize the importance of taking good care of the individuals who perform the essential work.

And by recognizing this, the mayor's plan includes direct supports for 5,000 childcare workers.

And finally, this levy advocates 600 new seats to the Seattle Preschool Program.

In the Ready to Learn area, this levy maintains the essential academic and enrichment supports for K-12 students while adding five new school-based healthcare centers.

This levy also continues to ensure the continuity of the critical mental health and school safety supports incorporated into the budget over the past year.

The proposed expansion of student safety supports in and around schools will be developed in partnership with Seattle Public Schools, students, and community.

And lastly, in the ready-to-launch category, this levy will sustain the successful Seattle Promise program and provide more opportunities for our young people, such as earning a four-year degree from the University of Washington or obtaining certifications and apprenticeships in a skilled trade.

Similar to the other new or expanded investments, this proposal, the path to trades investment, will be further developed in partnership with stakeholders such as Seattle colleges, unions, and employers during the implementation planning.

And before we move to public comment, I just want to remind the committee and public that this is the first piece of legislation related to the renewal of the FEP levy.

The legislation before the committee, it establishes the funding amount and priorities for investments within the levy and deal we plan to return to council in early 2026 with an implementation and evaluation plan that will outline the program policies, eligible partners, and investment timelines for the competitive grants.

So thank you, council, for this time.

And we look forward to listening to our Seattle community tonight with you here in council chambers.

Thank you, Director Chappell, and thank you, Marissa, for being here and giving that brief overview.

All right, as presiding officer, I'm now opening the public hearing on Council Bill 120981. Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this select committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Currently, we have 69 in-person speakers and 29 remote speakers signed up.

Thank you, clerk.

May you please read the public hearing instructions?

The public hearing will be moderated in the following manner.

Each speaker will have two minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registers.

Speakers will alternate between in-person and remote speakers until the public comment period has ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list, and then we will ask that people line up.

So the first speaker on the list is going to be Jamie Fackler, followed by Michael McIntyre, followed by Lily Peterson.

Thank you, clerk.

And folks, to get through this as quickly as possible, there are three mics.

So if your name has been called, you can step up to any one of the mics, and then we can keep that going.

Thank you.

Please start.

Thank you for being here.

Yeah.

Thank you, council members.

Thank you, Director Chappelle.

I just got to say from the bottom of my heart that I think the FEP levy represents sort of the best aspirations of Seattleites and how we're going to raise our children in this community.

And in that spirit, I think that it's really important that we are fully supporting our children in Seattle public schools.

So I just want to set the stage there that I do really support this, and I want to thank you for your work on it.

I have some concerns about the transparency in the process, and I'm really hoping that we can run a robust, transparent process in the implementation of this levy with good public outreach that's really engaging with community.

That's my expectation as a citizen of my elected officials.

My son goes to school in Little Saigon, and we know when violence happens in schools, it's often because of trauma caused by poverty and economic inequality in our city.

We can see that in the education gap from students of color and white students throughout Seattle Public Schools.

My time at Thurgood Marshall PTA, it was very clear what the difference was between a good early childhood education and one that wasn't.

And so I think that it's really critical that we fund this.

And as we have a child, I have my kids in high school right now currently, and we see such a need for mental health services and mentorship in high school and in those children.

And so I really, you know, this funding needs to go specifically to groups like community passageways that are doing violence interruption work in the community and to not police officers.

So I'm hoping that we can just stay true to our kids.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next is Michael McIntyre, then Lily Peterson, and then Ikra Mohammed.

Good afternoon, counsel.

My name's Michael McIntyre, and I serve as the Director of Government Affairs and speaking on behalf of the Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

Thank you for having me today.

I'm also a resident of Columbia City in District 2. I'm here to speak on how we allocate the public safety investments in the proposed VEP levy, specifically when it comes to gun violence prevention.

In order to make our schools and communities safer for young people, we know we need to invest in strategies that are proven to work.

those that are rooted in prevention, public health, and in community trust, most importantly.

That starts with schools, right?

We know that students thrive when they have access to counselors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers.

These are professionals that build relationships, deescalate conflict, and support students before gun violence occurs.

We also know that school-based investments like threat assessment teams and anti-bullying initiatives play a critical role in keeping students safe.

Outside of the school, there's a ton of work to do as well.

Across Seattle, we are so fortunate to have such a big group of community violence intervention organizations, a lot of which you'll hear from today.

But to name a few, Choose 180, Community Passageways, the YMCA, Girls and Boys Clubs, who else?

Urban Family that showed up for us today.

These organizations are directly breaking the cycles of violence and are doing such good work.

And this levy really needs to fund them in its full support.

We also can't ignore the threat to public health and public safety research.

Groups like the University of Washington's Firearm Injury and Policy Research Program are having threats on the federal level to their funding, and funds from this levy could go towards supporting groups like that.

At the Alliance, we base a lot of our work in this gun violence prevention research, and that would be a really great cause to get behind.

All these strategies will help build community trust that's so important.

And we really here in Seattle have the chance to be the best.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Ikra Mohamed, followed by Jocelyn Burrows and Melody McMillan.

I think we skipped Lily Peterson.

So sorry.

Lily Peterson, you're next.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Am I good to go?

You're all good to go whenever you're ready.

All right, thank you.

My name is Lily Peterson, and I am the leaded Path to UW advisor with the Path to UW program that's on this levy.

I partner directly with the Seattle Promise students and the Seattle Promise program to support equitable education access to the University of Washington for students who are in Seattle Promise and interested in pursuing a transfer pathway.

I get to work every day on the ground with these students and witness firsthand how life-changing this Path to UW transfer programming is, not just for them, but also for their families and their communities too.

Path to UW programming is unique in that it considers both the academic and life transitions that come with transfer planning and transfer student access.

It removes barriers and supports students in making informed decisions by providing opportunities for early UW campus engagement that helps students envision themselves as part of the community even before they transfer, and focuses on supporting a sense of connection that helps students not just get into UW, but also thrive once they are here and get through that graduation milestone.

A study conducted by the Community College Research Initiative on our programming confirmed the crucial role that Path to UW plays in students' lives, finding that it significantly increases transfer readiness and deepens students' sense of community and belonging to UW, both pre- and post-transfer, particularly in our target communities of first-generation students and students of color.

findings also highlighted how crucial Path Advisors are.

There are familiar and trusted faces at all stages of planning who offer clear, personable, and personalized guidance that demystifies the transfer process.

And students themselves share about the transformational impact of Path to UW too.

As one student put it, I didn't even know what questions to ask or that transferring could be possible, but the Path to UW Advisors walked me through all my options, explained the transfer process, and helped me make a plan that felt right for me.

That student has since transferred to the university and is in their major of interest.

That's the kind of deep impact we are having and hope to continue.

And now I would like you to hear directly from one of my remarkable students in the program, Ikra.

Speakers, just sorry, our chimes not working.

So the timer is up here.

You're gonna have to, apologies, look at the timer to, normally it dings 10 seconds before your time is up, but you're gonna have to look at the, for now.

Anyway, thank you.

Thanks for your patience.

Go ahead.

Next is Ikra, followed by Jocelyn Burrows, followed by Melody McMillan.

Ikra, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Ikra and I'm here to talk about my experience as a recent UW Seattle transfer through the Seattle Promise program and the Path to UW program.

I knew I wanted to study psychology and become a therapist, but not how to get there.

So when the time came to transfer, I never anticipated the overwhelming and difficult process.

I felt very anxious as the time grew closer because I didn't know all the ways to prepare and all the steps to submit my application.

This was also something that my parents couldn't guide me on as they haven't gotten the opportunity to go to college.

When I started talking to my Path to UW advisor Laura and Lily, They helped me plan out my path and made me feel confident and proud of my personal statement and my entire application.

With my advisor's help, I was able to get into the UW Seattle program and receive a submission into the psychology major program this quarter.

Path to UW is directly responsible for my college success at the University of Washington today.

Thank you for giving me the time to speak.

Thank you.

Jocelyn Burrows, Melody McMillan, and then Karen Devanero.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Jocelyn Burrows, and I'm Director of Advising Initiatives and Partnerships at University of Washington and also here to talk about our Path to UW program.

We love being partners with our Seattle Promise program and supporting students who are interested in a bachelor's degree to ease that transition, ease that process, and help them get to the University of Washington and earn that degree.

We're proud to say that our engagement with Path to UW program has shown to be impactful.

82% of Seattle Promise students who engage with our program are admitted to the University of Washington, which is significantly higher than our admit rate from general Washington community colleges.

Additionally, we're proud that we have been shown to equitably serve our Promise students.

70% of the students who engage with Path to UW are students of color, 54% are first generation, 41% are Pell eligible, and 56% are eligible for needs-based aid.

Just to illuminate a little bit, I have a comment from a student, Hamda Aden, who couldn't be here tonight because she just got an internship with King County and had her orientation tonight.

But she did send us some comments and she wanted to say, my experience with Seattle Promise and Path to UW has been really special and different from the typical first gen student journey.

I was also new to the country, so I was navigating not just school, but an entirely new life.

What made these programs stand out was the support that wasn't just academic, it was personal too.

With Path to UW, I loved having the chance to be on campus before starting classes.

It helped ease the transition and build trust with a group of people who were going through the same changes.

The first quarter seminar where we met every two weeks was something I looked forward to.

It gave us space to reflect, share what we were learning, and realize we weren't alone in adjusting to life at the university.

I'm truly grateful for both of these programs.

They've helped shape my college journey and the person I'm becoming.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Melody McMillan, Karen Devanero, and Lena Nguyen.

My name is Melody McMillan, and I have one of the best jobs ever, serving as the senior executive director for the Seattle Promise Program since 2018. I'm here today to speak in support of the Every Child Life Ready Plan, and specifically the Seattle Promise Program.

You're going to hear this from others today, but let me tell you, there is nothing like getting to tell a student and their family that college is in their future, and not just like 100 students.

Every student, every single student who graduates from a Seattle public school has a college education in their future.

I have had a front row view to see how impactful it is to give our youth hope for their futures and a plan to achieve their academic, their individual academic and career goals.

We have supported more than 13,000 high school seniors with the college navigation process since 2019. Seattle Promise has a shockingly high FAFSA and WASFA completion rate, which has legislators, higher education policy raters from across the nation, national media knocking on our doors to find out the secret to Seattle's success.

Students of color in our city are applying at higher rates than their peers, and they're persisting and completing at similar rates to the program average, indicating that we are making progress to close those race-based gaps in post-secondary access and success.

What we are doing together through the Seattle Promise Program, the intentionality of design behind this program, this matters.

What we're leading together is special.

I am positive that we are all gonna look back one day and know that with this program specifically, we have permanently changed our city for the better.

I encourage you to support the Every Child Ready plan, including continued funding for Seattle Promise and the educational paths preparing our kids for college and career.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Karen Devanero, Lena Nguyen, and Leon Caspi.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the education levy and specifically Seattle Promise.

My name is Karen DeBinaro and I am the pre-apprenticeship director at South Seattle College Georgetown campus.

And I'm also a parent of two Seattle Public Schools graduates.

Georgetown campus is the largest apprenticeship training center in Washington State.

We train over 3,500 apprentices and pre-apprentices annually in more than 80 occupations, including building trades, public utility, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing.

Seattle Promise is such a valuable program for the students of Seattle.

While many people here today may be familiar with the benefits to students pursuing traditional college paths, I'd like to talk about how Seattle Promise benefits and provides financial support for our students who are pursuing technical education and careers in the skilled trades.

One of the best pathways to success in the construction and manufacturing careers are pre-apprenticeship programs.

Pre-apprenticeship programs are important bridges for our students to gain both technical and life skills to be successful.

We at Georgetown have been doing a lot of work with Seattle Promise and Seattle Public Schools to increase awareness with high school guidance counselors and students of the many opportunities available in the skilled trades to build and maintain the infrastructure in Seattle and the Puget Sound region.

These include electrician, machinist, welder, cement mason, brick and tile layer, sprinkler fitter, painter, and drywall installer.

And that's just to name a few of the opportunities.

I'm happy to say that the number of students interested in pursuing these important careers has been growing tremendously over the past couple of years, and Seattle Promise is key to helping these students achieve their dreams.

We truly hope that Seattle Promise continues to be funded.

Thank you.

Thank you, Karen.

Next is Lena Nguyen, Leon Caspi, and Laura Wright.

Please step up if I've called your name.

Thank you.

21,000 minutes, 353 hours, 10 classrooms, 45 staff, 280 students, and one school year.

That's all the time people impact one part-time restorative practitioner can touch at one elementary school in one year.

Now multiply that by 50 practitioners out in the community.

Think of the number of schools and students that reaches in Seattle alone.

My name is Lena Nguyen, and I am a restorative justice practitioner at the community organization WABLOC, which stands for Washington Building Leaders of Change.

While my colleagues were out advocating to maintain level funding at the last city council meeting on May 1st, I was at one of my partner's schools holding a healing circle for the elementary school staff who were determined to work through the harms using restorative practices.

One of the teachers there said, I feel lucky that we get to sit through this process together.

No other school is willing to do this, nor has this.

Community-based practitioners hold the therapeutic skills that humanize our students, carry capacity to hold experiences of harm, and interrogate systemic injustices that exist in our schools.

Through grief, joy, and healing, I have had the honor of co-keeping circle spaces for our students and educators through the times when support the district was limited.

Restorative justice is violence prevention.

It puts community practitioners in schools when they have the time, space, and knowledge to hold the nuances of being human with our children and teachers.

So I urge the city council and mayor's office to explicitly invest in restorative practices in the FEP levy renewal.

And from the wise words of the principal at John Muir Elementary School, restorative practices do not happen overnight.

It takes time, so please trust the process.

Thank you, Lena.

Leon Caspi, Laura Wright, and then we're gonna switch to remote.

Go ahead, Leon.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Leon Caspi, and I serve as the Restorative Practices Program Manager for Seattle Public Schools.

Alongside community partners like Fabulous Woblock, Eduardo, and others, our team helps schools build relational, safe, and equitable school cultures.

We support with conflict resolution, facilitate repair, respond in times of crisis, and support in tragedies with grief supports in our school district.

While SPS funds a four-person central office RP team to support more than 100 schools, the city funding has made it possible to place restorative practices coordinators in over nine schools and provide coaching and supports through community partners like Woblock, Wairudo, and others.

Because of your advocacy, through the RJ investment, the city mental health investment, and the last FEP levy, schools serving communities with the greatest need have received more dedicated restorative supports.

Restorative practices coordinators alongside community partners are the trusted adults in their buildings.

They hold space for students in crisis and in conflict.

They connect students to mental health resources.

After tragedies, their rooms fill with young people seeking comfort and care.

They train staff and students in conflict resolution and community building.

The ready-to-learn investment in the next FEP levy names student physical and mental health and school safety as priorities, and restorative practices falls squarely into both of those priorities.

Please include dedicated funding for this work.

It's one of the upstream preventative safety and mental health solutions that our city urgently needs.

Thank you for all that you're doing in our community and for your advocacy.

Thank you, Leanne.

Laura Wright, and then we'll switch to remote.

Go ahead, Laura.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Laura Wright, and I'm a community member and practitioner with Woblock.

I'm here to urge you to strengthen and renew the FEP levy, specifically the K-12 investments for student mental health, restorative practices, and summer learning programs for our young people furthest from educational justice.

I've watched this levy for seven years fill critical gaps in access to summer learning, and this must be sustained.

Through the levy, organizations like Woblock facilitate free, high-impact summer programming for thousands of scholars and families every summer.

These aren't just summer programs or academic enrichment.

They're community anchors, joy-centered and healing learning spaces that are grounded in culturally and linguistically reflective practices.

Programming like Wall Block Freedom Schools nurtures readers, builds leaders, and grows organizers that care about the city that they call home.

I met Catherine the summer before her freshman year at Rainier Beach High School in 2017. She was nervous, quiet, but also hilarious.

She felt a sense of home right away with our program and staff at Freedom Schools and returned summer after summer.

First a participant, then a student leader, then a site assistant, an intern coordinator, and so on.

Her academic scores strengthened, and her leadership blossomed.

She felt seen, cared for, and invested in.

Just last week, Katherine graduated from WSU with a degree in elementary education.

And this summer, she'll return to our Freedom Schools program, this time as a certified teacher, guiding the next generation of K-5 scholars in the same neighborhood that she grew up in.

This is the kind of change and impact you contribute to when you say yes to renewing this levy.

You say yes to intergenerational leadership development, student empowerment, joyful, healing-centered, asset-based education.

Because how else do we measure the health and prosperity of this city if not the well-being of our children?

One parent once told me, Freedom Schools is the only program that has worked to heal the trauma my children experience during the school year.

Please invest in the vet levy, and we also invite you all to join us this summer to visit.

First online speaker is going to be Andrea Gomez-Morrison, then Billy Hetherington, and then Oliver Miska.

Andrea, please press star six.

Hi, my name is Andrea Gwemish-Morrison, and I am the Executive Director of Girls on the Run Puget Sound.

Thanks to the FPP Levy and Deal Funding, our Girls on the Run program has served hundreds of girls over the last several years in Seattle.

We inspire girls to be joyful, healthy, and confident, easing upon experiencing this curriculum, which creatively integrates running.

Our program empowers girls to feel confident in themselves, build connections to their school and communities, and stand up for friendships.

Through our curriculum, they discover the joy of physical movement and learn that running doesn't have to be competitive, but can in fact be done socially in friendship.

Over the last 20 years, the Monitoring the Future study has tracked how satisfied 8th, 10th, and 12th grade girls are with themselves as a measure of confidence.

The study shows that it continues to decline, with girls reporting significantly less satisfaction with themselves than boys.

This trend is happening at a younger age in 10 and 11-year-olds, where girls who described themselves as confident in 2017 dropped from 86% to 68% in 2023. Our program evaluations show that 95% of Girls on the Run participants described themselves as more confident thanks to our program.

Teen girls have reported feeling increasingly more lonely year after year since 2011. Our program builds connectedness in their lives through positive relationships with their adult volunteer coaches.

and other peers on their team.

Children and adolescents who have positive relationships with others report lower levels of sadness, higher rates of confidence, do better academically, and are more likely to enjoy school.

In fact, one of our participants who struggled with absenteeism told her coach that she went to school one day only because there was a girls on the run practice after school.

Our program evaluation shows that over 98% of our participants agreed that their teammates supported them and their coaches cared about them.

We envision a world where every girl knows and activates her limitless potential and is free to pursue her dreams.

Thanks to deal funding, we are doing this in Seattle.

Please renew this much needed funding.

Billy Hetherington, then Oliver Miska, and then Anab Noor.

Billy, please press star six.

Good evening, Chair Rivera and the rest of the council.

My name is Billy Hetherington.

I'm the political director for Labor's Local 242, representing 7,000 construction workers in King County.

Excited to be here tonight to talk about the Promise Levy renewal and the inclusion of pathways into the trades.

We know that not all students are bound for college.

And to add a pathway into the trades, like the prior speaker said, at the Georgetown campus, we're seeing an explosion of career opportunities in the trades.

And these are pathways into into the middle class and into jobs that give you skills that are transferable across many different things.

Not a lot of people know that Northwest Labor's Training, just this past Friday, we had a huge groundbreaking in partnership with Labor's Local 242 and opened up a 20,000 square foot facility in Des Moines.

And Northwest Labor's Training is actually, several years ago, we got accredited.

We are an accredited institute.

You can visit us at nwlett.edu.

The graduates from the labor's apprenticeship actually receive a transfer degree with college credits as well.

We know that young people or people in general tend to change careers several times.

So if the trades don't work out, they do have the options of that transfer degree as well.

In partnership with the great program of Seattle's Priority Hire, the Seattle Public Schools has their student community workforce agreement that pinpoints students that graduate the Seattle schools to give them priority on those projects as well.

So this is a great opportunity, another option for Seattle graduates.

And we're just really happy that you're talking about adding this to the program.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I wanted the record to reflect that Councilmember Hollingsworth joined us a while ago and the bell is not working.

So when you hear that, you have 10 seconds till the end of your comment period.

Clerk.

Oliver Miska, you're next.

I was just told that Oliver came in person.

Hi, council.

Thanks for hearing us today, and thanks for being here, everybody.

My name's Oliver Miska.

I'm a Seattle Public School educator and LGBTQ small business owner and advocate for economic justice, especially in our schools.

I also believe in the importance of this FEP levy and the challenging place we're in as cities, especially when our legislature doesn't do its paramount duty to fully fund our schools.

So thanks for having this hearing and having the FEP levy.

Unfortunately, our legislature did not change the fact that our tax code, we are the 49th out of 50th in the whole United States in terms of regressivity, meaning we're taxing working class people more than the wealthy.

The levy funds should be done in a collaborative way with community, not behind closed doors without transparency.

So far, we're deeply concerned with the rumors coming from SPD, the mayor's office, and the outgoing superintendent that this proposal could include putting SPD school resource officers back in our schools.

Not even the school board directors have been notified of this plan, let alone community.

We have organizations leading school safety in the south end, and it's about time we build capacity for these organizations that are here today, like Community Passageways and Choose 180. These are black-led alternatives to police that will keep every student safe and not criminalized.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next will be Anab Noor online, Nadia Gutierrez, and then Erica Washington.

Anab, please press star six.

My name is Anab Nair and I'm an educator with Woblock.

I urge you to renew and strengthen the FECP levy and explicitly sustain school-based investments in student mental health and restorative practices.

This work is not abstract.

It is real, relational, and happening every single day in schools across Seattle.

In our role as practitioners working directly with levy-funded schools, we support staff and students in creating school and classroom environments that feel safe and inclusive.

We train students as peacekeepers and circle keepers so they can learn how to facilitate community building, resolve conflicts, and lead with care.

Just last week in our final conference skills group with fourth graders, students shared that they learned When I'm mad not to hit people, to respect each other, how to control my emotions, and don't hurt other people's hearts.

This is student-led, culturally-rooted, and transformative work.

Squablock is currently in multi-year partnership with over eight Levy-funded schools, including Lowell Elementary, whose principal asked us to share this.

Lowell has greatly benefited from the weekly presence of a supportive, restorative practitioner.

Through classroom coaching, Wild Block is helping build strong foundations of community, routine, and relationships.

Key elements that support student well-being and academic engagement.

This work has been deeply culturally and linguistically responsive.

It's created trust, carrying relationships between students and adults to reflect and honor their identities.

Students are learning to resolve conflicts, communicate openly, and take responsibility for their actions, all within a safe and nurturing framework.

This is restorative practices work.

this is healing work and has proven to be impactful and effective.

We are asking you to ensure this work is explicitly named and sustained in the next FEPP levy and to say yes to putting it before voters this November.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nadia Gutierrez, then Erica Washington, then Lois Martin.

Please press star six.

Hi, my name is Nadia Gutierrez, and I'm the after-school program coordinator at El Centro de la Raza.

I've had the privilege of working closely with our middle school youth for almost two years now, and I see every day how programs like ours, supported by the FEP levy, are changing lives.

Our students grow not only academically, but also in confidence, pride in their cultural roots, and connection to their community.

One story that stands out is about a student who joined our program in fifth grade, alongside his older sister, who was in seventh grade at the time.

Since then, she's graduated from our middle school program and is now continuing with El Centro's high school program.

When he first arrived, he was very shy and quiet and opting depending on his sister to speak or step up for him.

But over time, we've watched him truly come into his own.

He's really funny and not afraid to speak his mind, and he's part of his Salvadorian group and carries himself with confidence.

He didn't become one of our biggest program ambassadors, bringing in more than 50% of our new sixth graders, simply because he wanted others to have the same positive experience he did.

He's grown into an independent young leader.

That's the kind of impact this program has, and it creates leaders, inspires pride, and builds community.

Thank you to the City of Seattle and the FEPP Levy for making this possible.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Erica Washington, followed by Louis Martin, followed by Nancy Scheman.

Erica, please press star six.

Seeing that Erica is not present, I'm going over to Louis Martin, then Nancy Scheman, and then Samantha Floresh.

Louis, please press star six.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Lois Martin.

I am a proud resident and child care center director located in Councilmember Hollingsworth Resilient Central District.

I have enjoyed working with children and their families for over 30 years, and our center was founded in 1963. I want to thank Councilmember Rivera for leading the select committee on FEP and Director Chappelle and other DIL staff for listening to community feedback, especially child care providers, in crafting this legislation.

I also want to thank Councilmember Hollingsworth for having the vision to look at finding ways to help families and renters stay in place as the property taxes this levy brings may place some community members at risk of displacement.

Anti-displacement measures coupled with funding education is a direct investment in supporting stable, healthy families.

Investing in Seattle's next generation of voters, especially those who are the children of our frontline workers, immigrant communities, and families further some opportunities, shows that our city's commitment to educational programs is an area where Seattle can shine above other major cities.

This is the first time that Seattle has invested in intentional funding for children ages birth to 12. With levy amounts earmarked to provide grants to more families with CCAP funds, along with direct financial investments and early learning staff, the retention grants, This levy supports directors and family-based sites as we strive to offer quality care to our students.

So I would like to urge the committee to pass the FEP levy and to continue to support our families and our children.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nancy Sheeman, Samantha Flores, and then Maggie Heard.

Nancy, please press star six.

Hi, I'm people here.

Hi, my name is Nancy Scheiman and I'm the Parent Child Plus Program Manager at Southwest Youth and Family Services.

I have been a part of the Parent Child Plus Program for the past 19 years and I've seen the impact it has made for so many children and families.

I just want to say thank you to the City of Seattle for the past 20 years that you have funded the Parent Child Plus Program.

Through all those years you have helped us change the lives and outcomes of so many children and families in the City of Seattle.

starting out with the demonstration project that you helped fund back in 2005. You have played a key part in changing the lives of low-income children that have went through our program.

For those of you that do not know, there is an 84% chance of graduating from high school if the child stays in the Parent Child Plus program for the full 92 visits.

The city of Seattle has made such a huge difference for the community by supporting our programs, and I wanted to thank you for including Parent Child Plus and the Family Education Preschool Promise Levy, proposal and for all of the time that you have dedicated to our program.

We could not have done it without you, and I'm so thankful for all that you have done to make a difference in the city of Seattle, which is my hometown.

Thank you.

Please pass the proposal.

Thank you.

Samantha Flores and then Maggie Heard.

Samantha, please press star six.

Samantha, please press star six.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Sam Flersch, and I am here to strongly encourage full funding for the city's environmental education program through the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy.

As elected leaders, you have a responsibility to make decisions that reflect the best interests of the communities that you serve.

Environmental education is not a luxury.

It is a critical investment in the health, well-being, and future of our children and city.

These programs connect young people to the natural world, promote environmental stewardship, and support academic achievement through hands-on and experiential learning.

At a time when climate change and environmental justice are at a juncture, we must ensure that the next generation is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and sense of responsibility needed to lead us forward.

By fully funding the city's environmental education program, We are not only supporting student learning, you are also fostering a more equitable, informed, and sustainable future for all Seattle residents.

Thanks for your time.

Thank you.

Maggie Hurd, please press star six.

Good afternoon.

My name is Maggie Hurd and I'm speaking to urge you to vote yes to place the renewal of the family's education, preschool, and promise levy on the ballot.

I work at BrightSpark Early Learning Services and administer the Seattle Homeless Child Care Subsidy Program, which is funded through this levy.

Our program serves families experiencing housing instability by helping them access child care and early learning opportunities.

We offer flexible subsidies and individualized support to help families find and enroll in early learning programs, apply for long-term assistance, and connect with resources that support their children's development and family stability.

While Seattle provides strong early learning resources, navigating these systems can be especially overwhelming for families that are focused on meeting their children's basic needs and for families that are new to the state or the country.

Our program helps fill that critical gap with low barrier, rapid, and comprehensive support with the understanding that quality child care programs help families access and secure or maintain employment.

stabilize housing, and ensure their children can access high-quality early learning experiences that they deserve.

The FEP levy makes this work possible.

It's an investment in equity, opportunity, and a stronger future for Seattle.

Please advance the levy on the ballot and let voters continue to support our city's children and families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, we're gonna switch back to in person.

Amber Donaldson, Jill Colasurdo, and Trish Haggerty, please come up to one of the three mics.

Amber, go ahead.

Hello, my name is Amber Donaldson, and I'm the restorative practices coordinator at Franklin High School, a position funded by the last FEPP levy and the City RJ Investment.

In this work, I have seen so many changes in the behavior of young people, from physical safety all the way to their mental health.

Part of the work I do at Franklin is helping our young people in how to navigate conflict, self-awareness, as well as social and emotional wellness.

Last year, my first year at Franklin, I walked into girls constantly fighting.

Every time there was an issue, they would fight or almost get into a fight.

Through learning to sit in circle, talk through their emotions, expectations, and triggers, they've learned that there are different ways to deal with conflict.

Now they ask to sit in circle.

They say, Ms. A, we need a circle.

I'm feeling like this.

Or Ms. A, there's a staff that I'm having conflict with.

Can we sit in circle?

Being able to be seen, heard, and valued in a building that they are required to be in every day makes a huge difference, not just in how they interact with each other and staff, but who they want to be when they leave the building and become adults.

Restorative practices fosters a sense of value, community, as well as accountability and addressing harm when it's caused in a non-shameful and exclusionary way.

We as restorative practitioners ensure that students' voices are heard and that they understand that they add value to our education systems.

As someone who was employed at Ingram High School at the time of the unfortunate shooting two years ago, I've seen, participated, and experienced the healing that came with students sitting in circle and releasing some of the dark traumas and experiences that came with that day.

Restorative practices is necessary, it heals, and it truly does restore.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Amber.

Jill Colasorto, Trish Haggerty, and Maggie Johnson, please come up to a mic.

Go ahead, Jill.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Jill Colacerto and I'm a consulting teacher on the restorative practices team at Seattle Public Schools.

Thank you for this opportunity to share with you.

I'm a licensed social worker and this is my ninth year as an SPS employee.

Prior to this, I was a child welfare social worker for 14 years where I spent a lot of time in schools all over the county with young people and their families advocating for students.

What I learned was that when school staff have the opportunity to connect with students and families and understand their experience, they are able to hold more empathy.

The outcomes for the students I served were directly tied to the relationships they had within their schools.

Aside from family, schools have the biggest impact on how all of our children are doing, and I have seen firsthand how even one relationship with an adult at school was lifesaving for the young people that I served.

A few years ago, my role and position changed as our team at Seattle Public Schools transitioned to implementing restorative practices district-wide.

When I left child welfare nine years ago, I knew I still wanted to somehow continue to serve and advocate for young people and their families, and never has my work been more connected to the work that I used to do.

RP, restorative practices, is humanizing work.

The sole purpose is building community between colleagues, students, and communities.

Foundationally, this is what we all need, especially in a time when there is so much violence and loss in our communities.

RP, at its heart, centers relationships and connection.

It creates capacity and pathways for people to come together when hard things happen.

We have made great gains as a district, and much of that has been because of the capacity this levy has provided us.

Please support and help us continue this work.

As a district team of four serving over 100 schools, we need RP coordinators like Amber and our community partners.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Trish Haggerty, Maggie Johnson, Melanie Weineke.

Please step up.

Trish, you may start.

I'm heartened by this community's, this council's commitment to prioritizing the educational, emotional wellbeing and safety needs of our youth.

Restorative practices aligns seamlessly with this council's priorities and the needs of our community by investing in effective strategies that improve safety and support the wellbeing of our children.

Good afternoon, my name's Trish Haggerty and I'm a lifelong resident of Seattle, mother of two grown daughters and an educator with a deep belief in the collective wisdom of a strong community Safety in our schools and our communities is a number one priority.

Our children, youth, educators name significant safety concerns and how the impact of behavioral needs and violence among our highest priorities.

Our children cannot learn if they do not feel safe or if they cannot regulate their emotions or behaviors or learn how to process difficult and traumatic events.

Restorative practices brings people together, builds trust, relationships, and connections.

Children and youth feel safer when they are connected within their classroom communities and even when connected to one trusted adult.

Through restorative practices, students are known, valued, and heard.

We are at the beginning of this journey.

Our team, small number of restorative practices coordinators, and our community partners are seeing a positive, and monumental shift in our classrooms and in community, in our efforts to strengthen culture and develop a deep sense of belonging.

Restorative Practices empowers and engages people in ways that have been effective in many cities to reduce or deter incidents of gun and other forms of violence and strategize ways to address the harms caused by community violence.

Restorative Practices provides a pathway to continues strides towards racial equity advancement and are critical in creating safe, joyful, culturally responsive teaching.

Thank you.

Maggie Johnson, Melanie Weineke, Bree Reborn, please step up to a mic.

Hi, I'm Maggie Johnson, and I'm a volunteer with Seattle Parks Environmental Education.

We are delighted and grateful that the mayor's office is trying to save part of Seattle Parks Environmental Education by including four of the nine eliminated staff positions in the levy.

The proposal is to save the slice of our program that provides school field trips.

However, the proposal needs a small amendment for even this limited piece to work.

In 2024, our staff, along with our core of about 100 well-trained volunteers, led 338 school field trips providing nature, immersion, and science education to almost 5,400 students from pre-k through high school.

The mayor's proposal restores four part and full-time naturalists and environmental ed specialists so we can continue this programming.

But the fatal flaw is that it does not restore the critical administration's specialist position.

This is the person who manages all the scheduling, schedules the schools, the programs, the buses, handles fees, coordinates the volunteers and the staff.

We can't do the school programs or schedule the volunteers without this administrative support.

So while ideally we'd like our entire program, including the Discovery Park Visitor Center and associated programming, to be restored along with adequate management and physical infrastructure, at a minimum, please consider adding funding for one full-time administrative specialist to make the school field trips program work.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Melanie Wieneke, Brie Reborn, and Chantelle Patu.

Please step up to a mic.

Go ahead, Melanie.

Sorry if I mispronounced your last name.

It's all right.

My name is Melanie Wieneke, and I am a Seattle Urban Nature Guide.

I volunteered for the city for 12 years.

The environmental education staff and volunteers have been given verbal promises by the mayor's office and park administration that the city's environmental education programs will be partially funded through the FEPP levy.

We've been told, though not in writing, that one full-time and three part-time naturalist positions will be included in the levy.

We're grateful that the city leadership is trying to save these programs, but only funding the four positions with no administrative or management staff and no base of operations, is wholly insufficient.

These environmental education programs are needed in Seattle.

Our work aligns directly with the city goals.

We support the city's climate goals, the city's youth mental health goals, and the city's goals of inclusivity and care for the most vulnerable, as we invite people into joyful and safe exploration of the natural world at their footsteps, at their doorsteps, places they may never have encountered or never felt welcome in before.

We serve over 80,000 people from all over the city every year, through salmon in the schools, preschools, day camps, school and public programs, our beach accessibility program, and our over 50 community partnerships, such as with the Seattle Housing Authority and the Duwamish River Community Coalition, and of course, Discovery Park Visitor Center.

The environmental education is needed, but only funding for positions with no infrastructure or support staff is totally insufficient.

Without that, our programs can't continue to function as they do, and the city will lose that vast impact of these programs.

Honestly, I don't know whether this program should be funded through FEP or through adjustments to the city's budget, and I ask you to deliberate on that and save these programs.

They're vital for our city.

Thank you.

We do have some petitions from citizens.

You can leave them in that box, Melanie.

Thank you so much.

Brie Reborn, and again, sorry if I mispronounced your name.

Brie?

Good evening, council members.

My name is Bree Rayburn.

I'm a Seattle resident and lifelong Washingtonian who grew up planting trees and testing water quality for salmon with my environmentalist uncle.

I'm here today to urge you to fully fund the city's environmental education programming through the FEP levy.

The planned cuts to environmental education programming in Seattle goes against the very mission of Seattle Parks and Recreation.

These cuts will deepen existing disparities and will be detrimental to our communities, parks, and youth.

I encourage each of you to uphold your social and environmental justice commitments and fully fund the city's environmental education programs in the FEP levy.

Our city and state need the future environmental stewards fostered through these programs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bree.

Chantel Patu, Paul Patu, Emilio Bastidas, please come up to a mic.

Chantel, go ahead.

Good evening, council members.

I am Chantelle Patu from Urban Family and from the Seattle Community Safety Initiative.

We enthusiastically support the FEPP Levy.

Its vision for Seattle's youth aligns perfectly with our missions.

We strongly urge its continued funding.

It's a critical investment in our city's future.

At SCSI, we firmly believe safety is essential for learning.

The levee rightly prioritizes this, and our safe passage and de-escalation services directly contribute, helping students feel secure.

Beyond immediate community safety, our proactive prevention-centered programs build long-term success.

Our family care teams offer vital wraparound services, paid internships, mentorships, and life skills programs that build resilience and purpose.

This culturally responsive approach is key to ensuring students have fully, excuse me, ensuring students can fully engage with the Levy's Ready to Learn initiatives.

One of our youth, Justin Credible, that's what I call him, has a powerful story that exemplifies our impact.

Facing significant challenges, our mentorship program helped transform him into a leader and a peer mentor.

His journey showcases the success of cultural responsive support, directly contributing to the Levy's goals for students' wellbeing and positive futures.

SCSI acts as a trusted community connector, linking youth and families to FEPP opportunities and ensuring resources ensuring research has reached those that need it most.

Our programs directly amplify the levy's investments and expanded learning.

Continuing to fund community partners like Urban Family and Community Passageways strengthens this levy by integrating proven prevention, intervention and safety programs.

We leverage deep community trust to ensure equitable access and help close opportunity gaps.

We are dedicated to partners in achieving this ...goals and committed to ensuring all of Seattle's children are truly ready to learn.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chantel.

Paul Patu, Emilio Bastidas, Tyler Hiles.

And then we'll go to online public comment.

Paul.

That was profound, whoever that woman was.

Beautiful.

I want to first start off by thanking Dwayne Chappelle for your leadership.

and the team that you've assembled at DIO extremely important to this process.

So I know we're not supposed to.

So mine is simple.

Ready to start.

Ready to learn.

Ready to launch.

Ready to start.

Ready to learn.

Ready to launch.

We need all of it.

You can't actually invest in one without investing in the others.

That was genius, whoever put this thing together, because you can't stop the investment.

There's an old saying that says, you know a tree by the fruit it bears.

This room is full of fruit.

of people that have been successful through these programs, successful with partnering across differences.

It's extremely important that you weigh this out.

We need a holistic approach.

And this is it.

This helps us to get our feet going with early childhood education.

And where we're at, Urban Family Community Passageways, the YMCA, we're in the ready to learn.

Key word is ready.

Are you ready to make a decision for the people of our community?

We believe you are.

We believe you are up for the task.

You know what is before you is extremely important amidst chaotic times.

It usually takes a steady hand and a steady decision to make the right choices.

God bless you.

We know what you do is difficult.

You're in our prayers, and we pray we support the holistic approach of this levy.

Thank you.

Thank you, Paul.

Emilio Bastidas, Tyler Howells, and then we'll go back to the calls.

Emilio.

Good evening.

My name is Justin Bastidas.

I'm representing Urban Family.

It's important for me to get this funding because once I was a at-risk youth.

When they found me, I was in their middle school BHR system.

It's a blessing in disguise when I met my mentor, Jason.

He helped me through middle school and high school.

I'm now in 10th grade.

And ever since they met me, I've improved dramatically academically and mentally.

I still and will continue to work with Urban Family.

I'm now in their after school program, giving back to the community and sharing my story.

It's important for me to be able to be in these after school programs, working as an intern to help families and connecting with more youth and learning program.

Urban Family made me feel cared and protected and safe.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you, Emil, am I saying it right?

Emilio, I said it right the first time.

Emilio, thank you.

Tyler, go ahead.

Thank you council members for having me.

I'm the data coordinator at Urban Family.

They wanted me to come talk on how the FEP levy aligns with the urban family work we do, and specifically in youth programming and mentorship.

After looking over the levy, I found it reassuring that the levy itself was put through a theory of change model, just like our programs were.

And through that theory of change model, urban family was decided about five pillars, five pillars of success for the youth.

Those pillars are supporting executive functioning, emotional management, positive mentorship, life coaching through relationships, instilling positive mindsets, building a safe and supportive environment, and inspiring social change.

Now, you might know this, but youth development is very hard to quantify, unless it's academic.

So throughout this process, we actually decided that these pillars were crucial for the success of youth.

And so these kind of linked to our domains, which I'm not going to get into that.

But throughout this process, we have found that not only this funding is crucial to our development of the youth, but it's crucial for the entire community.

Looking over the levy itself, we found a lot of similarities, but the main thing that we found that was extremely similar is how it is contributing to the healthy transitions into young adults.

Through our mentorship and our youth development programs, i.e. goal setting, contact work, kind of what we say at Urban Family is we do for, we do with, and then we watch do.

Some of these kids don't have that direction or the support they need, and that's where Urban Family comes in to provide that support and lead them along the way.

And I just want to say that at Urban Family, we are ready to start, we are ready to learn, and we are ready to launch.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next remote public speaker is going to be Donnell Wilkie and then Susan Lee and then Michael Itty.

Donnell, please press star six.

Donnell, please press star six.

Can you hear me now?

Yes, Donnell, thanks.

Perfect, thank you.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Donnell Wilkie.

I work in the library at Seattle Central College.

While I can attest to the incredible impact Promise has made on our students, our college, and our community, I'm speaking tonight as the parent of a Promise student.

My daughter Zola graduates in five weeks from Seattle Central with an AA in technical theater, and is transferring to Western Washington University in September.

When people hear about Seattle Promise, the first comment is always free tuition.

That's great.

And yes, it is.

It's an incredible opportunity.

And for many families, it's the only way they are able to afford college or technical school.

But what people don't realize is that Seattle Promise is less of a free ride and a little more like boot camp.

The expectations are high and discipline is required.

Every Promise student is aware that this scholarship is earned, not given.

If you fail a classroom at the deadline, you lose your scholarship.

In fact, my daughter would be there in person to speak if she weren't completing internship hours tonight.

Students are required to check in with their advisor regularly and complete program-specific requirements.

Students get emails and notifications at least once a week from Promise staff, and they are also the key points of contact for students who need help navigating the confusing and sometimes maddening bureaucracy of higher education.

Most Seattle Central students are not privileged with the generational expertise of navigating those kinds of systems, and Promise provides that guidance.

Promise staff provides a safety net of support and resources to ensure success.

They teach high school kids how to become fully functional working adults while simultaneously reinforcing our community's infrastructure by providing paths to a living wage.

And those paths are shorter than you'd think.

After only one year in Central's technical theater and social justice program, Zola had the knowledge and skills required to pass the test to become a member of IOTC, the stagehands union.

At 19, she's working in the skilled trades, making between $40 and $80 an hour.

When I was 19, I was barely passing colleges and working at a mall.

Living Wayne wasn't on my radar until I was in my 30s, and she's currently looking at where she would like to buy a house.

Thank you, Donnell.

Susan Lee, then Michael Itty, then Flor Quiroz.

Susan, please press star six.

Hi, good evening.

My name is Dr. Susan Lee, and I'm the Senior Director of Education at Refugee Women's Alliance, also known as REWA in Seattle.

REWA currently serves 450 students and families across early learning K through 12 post-secondary programs.

In our early learning centers alone, we serve 217 children across three locations, with two additional centers set to open by September of 2025. bringing our total early learners to over 400. Since joining the Levy Oversight Committee in 2019, I've witnessed firsthand collaboration, partnership between DL and childcare providers.

I've also seen firsthand the powerful impact the SEP Levy has in creating meaningful pathways for students, families, and educators.

Seattle Preschool Program under the SEP Levy ensures early access to high-quality education especially for immigrant, refugees, and low-income families.

At Rewa, 65% of our families speak a language other than English, and 74% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Because of the flooding, 90% of our families receive financial support and 100% benefit from vital resources like learning materials, mental health services, and one-on-one case management.

This funding also strengthens our youth programs.

Through STEAM and academic enrichment, students gained the tools to close learning gaps and building confidence.

One parent shared, the Rewall STEAM program gave my child, who has special needs, a safe and inclusive space to grow.

Rewall celebrates him for who he is and his many talents.

Another parent shared, I never imagined my child would have the opportunity to go to college simply because we couldn't afford it.

but thanks to the Seattle Promise, she is now attending the University of Washington, pursuing a degree in- Thank you, Susan.

Michael Eddie, then Flor Quiroz, and then Stephanie Garcia-Ferman.

Michael, please press star six.

Hello, Chair Rivera.

Hello.

Go ahead.

Hello, Chair Rivera and Council Members.

I'm Michael Itte, Executive Director at CISC.

We've been serving immigrant communities in Seattle and King County since 1972. We see the tremendous impact of the levy through our bilingual preschool, and soon we will expand it to two classrooms serving children who live in the Chinatown International District and surrounding neighborhoods.

We strongly support expansion to include additional preschool enrollments.

We see academic, bilingual, social, and emotional growth in our students.

And last year at our graduation ceremony, we saw many smiling family members who were grateful for the Seattle preschool program.

In addition, we urge the inclusion of the early learning home visiting program, Parent Child Plus.

CISC is a current provider in partnership with the city and United Way.

Our early learning specialists serve children who are Vietnamese and Chinese heritage.

and we recently served a multi-generational household, family members who speak Vietnamese at home.

When their child first joined the program, they were concerned about his language development.

A few years later, the child is thriving and enjoying the books provided through the program.

We urge your support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Michael.

Flor Quiroz, then Stephanie Garcia-Ferman, and then Eddie Lin.

Flor, please press star six.

Hola, mi nombre es Flor Quiroz.

Soy la mamá de Samantha y de Rafael.

Y estoy muy agradecida por el apoyo que le dan en el centro de la raza.

Rafael va al sexto grado y Samantha octavo grado.

Pues muchas gracias por el apoyo.

Y el centro de la raza.

Gracias.

Gracias, Flor.

Gracias por llamar.

Stephanie Garcia-Ferman, Eddie Lin, and then Day Ferhud.

Stephanie, please press star six.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Stephanie Garcia-Ferman.

I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for the incredible support I've received from Seattle Promise as a student over the past two school years.

After returning to Seattle from Mexico during my senior year of high school, I was unsure my exact college path would look like.

That was until I heard about Seattle Promise my senior year.

Their program immediately opened doors for me, provided resources, mentorship, and opportunities that made me a profound impact on my college journey.

From financial assistance to community of like-minded students, Seattle Promise has empowered me with the confidence and tools necessary to pursue my goals and succeed academically.

The guidance I've received through the program has helped me grow, grow both as a student and as an individual.

I'm truly grateful for all the doors it has opened and I believe, I believe that promise is an amazing program for any type of student looking to continue their education beyond high school.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to continuing my journey in college and with the help of Seattle Promise and the City of Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Stephanie.

Eddie Lynn, then Dave Fairhood and then Celia Romero.

Eddie, please press star six.

Hi, good evening, City Council.

My name is Eddie Lynn and I'm the resident of Beacon Hill and also a parent of a 10th grader at Franklin High School.

I'd like to express my strong support for the FEP levy, and especially some of the new programs, including funding for childcare workers, apprenticeships, and school safety.

I'd like to speak about school-based investments, which provide critical support to schools across the city, but especially in Southeast Seattle, District 2, including Franklin High School, which receives funding for approximately seven full-time employees for positions like interventionists and family support workers.

And I'd like to see that those positions are protected and continue to be funded as part of the implementation plan.

I'm super excited to see a school safety included in this SEP levy.

youth gun violence is at an all-time high and has traumatized and we've had tragedies across the city, as you all know.

Providing dedicated funding for the organizations that are working to interrupt this gun violence, groups like Community Passageways and Urban Family, I think is critical and One concern I have is that there has been some reporting or concerns about whether some of this funding could go to SROs or school resource officers.

And that's a complicated topic and a sensitive one and something that I don't believe should be included in the FEP levy.

So I'd like to see clarification that the FEP levy is not going to fund SPD salaries.

Um, finally, regarding an application plan, I would just strongly urge that, um, labor partners be included, um, and, um, as well as schools that receive school-based investments.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eddie.

Dave Fairhood, then Celia Romero, and then Samantha Velasquez.

Dave, please press star six.

Good evening, powerful members.

This is Dey Fahoud.

I am the Child's Law Coordinator at Iraqi Community Center of Washington.

I work since I started as a volunteer since 2021 until the present.

I'm helping the new immigrated family and their children who are isolated and they feel different.

with the parent child plus program help, who are providing help and navigate, help the families navigate the system.

We are trying to make these families feel at home, to connect them with a new community they are in.

providing them home visits without connecting them with their own culture and their own native language.

On the other side, we are focusing on their children's development and prepare them mentally and academically to feel the same as their peers.

when they reach the school age.

And they could call Seattle, Washington.

Thank you so much for this opportunity.

Please pass the proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you, Day.

Celia Romero, then Samantha Velasquez, and then Allison Nunez.

Celia, please press star six.

Celia, please press star six.

Celia, you need, there you go.

Oh, no, there you go.

Celia, I think you can start speaking.

It looks like you.

There you go.

Hi, my name is Silvia and I'm in eighth grade.

I've been a part of the Centro de la Raza After School program for one year.

One of the things I like about the program is going on shelters and going to cultural events.

It's helped me by getting to know new places and learning more about our culture.

I think this program is important because it helped me a lot with stuff like getting closer to people or being able to manage my anxiety.

Lastly, I want to thank El Centro and the City of Seattle for supporting us.

Thank you, Celia.

Samantha Velasquez, then Alison Nunez, and then we will switch back to in-person speakers.

Samantha, please press star six.

Samantha, go ahead.

Try that again, Samantha.

It looked like you had pressed star six and you looked unmuted and now you look muted again.

Can you try pressing star six again, please?

There you go.

Go ahead, speak up.

Speak up.

Can you hear us, Samantha?

If you can, speak up.

We'll come back to you, Samantha.

Oh, go ahead.

We'll come back to you, Samantha.

We'll give you a minute.

Next is Allison Nunez.

Allison, please press star six.

Hi, my name is Allison, and I'm in eighth grade.

I've been a part of the Central de la Raza after school program for one year.

One of the things I like about this program is the Family Fund Center field trip.

It helped me be around more people.

A moment that really stood out for me was when I was going through sad times.

I think this program is important because it's a safe space you can talk about.

Anything you want to indulge.

I want to thank Alessandro and the City of Seattle for supporting us.

Thank you, Alison.

Samantha, can you try pressing star six nine, I mean, star six now?

Oh, looks like she hung up.

I don't see her.

You see her?

Okay.

Samantha, go ahead whenever you're ready.

Go ahead, why don't you speak?

I think you're unmuted now.

Okay.

There you go.

Hello, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Hello, good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

My name is Samantha and I'm in eighth grade and I'm a student in the after school program at .

I've been in the program for two years and it's helped me a lot.

I get help with my homework and I get to hang out with friends.

The teachers care about us.

I also like that we do fun activities like going to field trips and learn about our culture.

It makes me feel proud and connect to my community.

I just want to say thank you to El Centro and to the city of Seattle for supporting this program.

It's made a big difference in my life.

Thank you, Samantha.

All right, we're going back to in person.

Angela Sheffy-Bogan, Suzette Espinoza Cruz, Pamela Grossman.

Can you please step up to the mics?

Angela?

Go ahead.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Angela Sheffey-Bogan.

I'm the proud principal at Kimball Elementary School, a City of Seattle taxpayer and a registered voter.

I am here today to speak in strong support of the continued and expanded school levy funding.

I have witnessed firsthand as a school leader the powerful and lasting impact levy dollars have had on our schools, specifically at Dearborn Park International School, Wing Luke Elementary, and now at Kimball.

At Dearborn Park International School, Levy funding supported dual language programming and helped fund essential staffing positions which directly impact student achievement.

These resources elevated student engagement and allowed teachers to differentiate instruction in ways that truly supported learners.

At Wing Luke, I saw how levy funding directly benefited students through mental health supports in school programming and academic interventions.

These services were specifically critical as we helped students recover from social and academic impacts of the pandemic.

Now at Kimbell, I continue to see the transformative effects of levy funding.

We have been able to support inclusive learning environments, provided targeted interventions, and build strong connections with families through community partnerships, all made possible by levy dollars.

As you have heard from my testimony, every school in every need is individual to the school and its community.

I've seen levy funding turn possibilities into realities, creating equitable learning opportunities, enriching student experiences, and supporting the whole child.

Please continue to invest in our public schools, our children, and our city's future.

Depend on it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Angela.

Suzette Espinoza Cruz, Pamela Grossman, and then Angelia Maxey.

Angelia Maxey, sorry.

Go ahead, Suzette.

Hi, City Council members.

I'm Suzette Espinosa-Cruz, and I'm a proud parent of children who benefited from Seattle's early learning and childcare programs.

And I'm also here today to speak as a volunteer advocate with Save the Children Action Network.

Save the Children Action Network of Washington stands in support of Seattle's Ready to Start, Ready to Learn, and Ready to Launch campaign because we know how important high quality early learning and childcare is for preparing children for being successful in kindergarten and beyond.

Because of the state's budget gaps this year, the legislature was forced to make significant cuts and delays in funding for early childhood programs such as early childhood education and assistance program and critical supports for early learning special needs programs.

Unfortunately, this is also coming at a time when the federal government is also considering cuts to programs like Head Start, leaving many families in Seattle and kids without options.

These cuts and delays will have long-term impacts on kids and families.

Kids grow up fast and we can't get those lost years and the child's learning and development back.

We also know that lack of childcare negatively impacts the economy, and when we support Seattle's childcare workers, we support Seattle's working families.

Seattle childcare workers are the backbone of a healthy economy.

In Seattle, we have the opportunity to fill growing gaps in childcare, early childhood education, and support childcare workers by continuing to fund the award-winning Seattle Preschool Program in the levy, and ensuring that the program meets the needs of all Seattle families.

In closing, as you all move this legislation forward, we hope you will continue to engage more families and childcare workers furthest from opportunity so that Ready to Start works for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Suzette.

Pamela Grossman.

Angelia Maxey and Whitney Smith, please come up to a mic.

Go ahead, Angelia.

Oops, sorry, Pamela.

Go ahead, Pamela.

Hello, I'm Pamela Grossman.

I work at the Hearing, Speech, and Deaf Center in Seattle, and I'm the director of the Rosen Family Preschool.

The Rosen Family Preschool has been partnering with DEAL and has had a Seattle Preschool Program classroom since 2016. We started out with one classroom with one teacher who was deaf.

Now we have two preschool classrooms.

And we have a feeder classroom, and we have about 10 to 12 deaf staff members.

This is only possible because of Seattle Preschool Program, and the city of Seattle has given us so much support.

There are so many barriers for deaf people to become educators.

There's so many barriers, and the city of Seattle has helped me to hire deaf teachers and get them the training they need.

When a deaf child is born in the city of Seattle, it is 90% likely that their parent is hearing and has never met a deaf person before and certainly doesn't know sign language.

The best person to teach sign language to a deaf child is a deaf adult.

And our program is able to do that because of the support we've received through the levy.

We're a model program.

We feed into Seattle Public Schools.

Our children go to TOPS.

We have a wonderful partnership with Seattle Public Schools without your support and without levy support.

So thank you very much for making that possible.

Thank you, Pamela, Angelia, Maxie, Whitney Smith, and Catherine Le Chinois.

Hope I said that okay.

Go ahead, Angelia.

Good evening, council members.

I'm representing Tiny Tots families and our 55-year history.

The funding for the SPP Seattle Preschool Program is so very vital to the work we do with families.

The funds that support families' ability to work while providing a safe, nurturing, and inclusive environment where children are at the heart of what SPP supports, creating lifelong learners.

In addition to the funds that support The families on SPP, they have a strong focus on preparing the classroom instructors by investing in their education to make a full circle.

So in many ways, I see SPP as the value that just keeps on giving.

Finally, child care is the work that supports all other work.

The childcare retention funds are vital in celebrating those staff who devote themselves to childcare.

And since I've got 50 more seconds, what I think I will say is that like Paul Patu stated earlier, this work is in your hands and we very much need you to consider it as the vital work that's necessary.

Little learners are not a secure voting block.

So it takes us adults to fight extra hard for them.

And that's why we're here tonight, to speak when they can't speak.

And what I'm going to say one more time and say it again, child care is the work that supports everybody else being able to go to work.

So thank you for the work you've done and continue to fight the fight for our little people that deserve your attention.

Thank you.

Whitney Smith, Catherine Le Chinois, Jean Jarstad.

Whitney.

Hi, my name is Whitney Smith, and I'm a Seattle resident.

I'm also the interim director of early learning for Seattle Public Schools.

And I'm here to talk about our partnership with DEAL and the significant impacts that it's had on preschool families, and especially those families of children who are receiving IEP services through the district.

The 2025 school year represents 10 years of partnership between the City of Seattle and Seattle Public Schools in delivering high-quality early learning experiences to students through the Seattle Preschool Program.

Together, we've scaled from three classrooms in 2015 to 42 classrooms in 2024 and planned 45 classrooms in 2025. These classrooms serve 836 students, including 160 students receiving special education services in an inclusive classroom environment through our Seattle Preschool Program Plus model.

Results of Deal's Seattle Preschool Program process evaluation in December 2024 indicate a higher percentage of growth from fall to spring for children in SPP Plus.

More students met their teaching strategies gold, which is our assessment, growth targets in each domain than children comparison classrooms.

Among children with an IEP in kindergarten in 23-24, those who had previously attended an SPP plus classroom were kindergarten ready in 4.6 of six domains on the WA Kids assessment compared to 3.5 among those who did not attend an SPP classroom.

Children without an IEP who intended SPP plus classrooms also had an higher average number of domains, 5.6 contrasted to 5.5 and not on SPP classrooms.

We look forward to expanding this program by three additional classrooms this year and hopefully many more in the future to create an inclusive environment.

Thank you, Whitney.

Catherine, Jean Jarstad, and Aniya Muhammad, please come up to the mic.

Catherine.

How do you pronounce your last name?

Ichinose.

I am so sorry.

Ichinose.

But I think that is me.

Yes, my name is Catherine Ichinose.

I am a student at UW and I organize with the Seattle Student Union.

And so Seattle Student Union has been organizing, empowering student leaders for the past few years.

And so I'm speaking on behalf of those students across North and South public schools in Seattle, who I think are the people who we should really treat as the experts on what they need in their schools.

And those things are full-time professional therapists who are working in person out of school-based health centers that are funded through the FEP levy.

staff who prevent violence, not just respond to it.

And we've heard from many amazing organizations and groups already that are doing that restorative justice practice.

But we have a lot of concerns about whether those That work is actually getting funded through the renewal of the FEP levy.

It's not clear to us whether they have dedicated funding in this broad bucket of health and safety money in the FEP levy, and so we're just calling that that money goes directly to those services.

And in addition, I want to echo folks who have talked about this as an opportunity to resource programs that are being cut due to federal oversight, specifically the UW gun violence prevention research program, as well as a program that puts graduate students studying therapy into school-based health centers to provide therapy to students there and then requires that they continue serving those schools for 10 years after graduation that both gets care to students and develops the workforce.

In addition, we would like to see resourcing to protect students from ICE raids and gender-based and race-based violence to protect our students.

Thank you.

Thank you, Catherine.

Jean Jarstad, Ania Mohamed and Rebecca Bolakimo.

Hi.

I'm here to support environmental education, but I'm one of 100 volunteers, free labor for Seattle, all of us.

And I believe we conducted 500 field trips for school children in Seattle schools and Seattle parks last year.

We had nine members, nine staff members.

And this year, the mayor's proposal proposes one full-time and three.

That's four.

But if we want to keep the Discovery Center open, you need one more.

And if you want somebody to schedule all these programs with the schools, these 500, you need to have an administrative person.

So I guess we need three full-time, three part-time instead of four.

But these field trips have become a mainstay for many of the schools throughout the Seattle area.

Many teachers have told us that they have written letters to you in support of this.

Maybe you got some.

But exactly what do we volunteers do on a typical field trip?

which is set up with schools by staff.

So last week I conducted one.

So I was waiting with three volunteers and one staff member in the north parking lot of Discovery Park near the Wolf Creek Trail, which is marvelous.

A school bus with 50 sixth graders and several teachers and parents of chaperones pulled into the parking lot.

The energy was visible as they came off the buses, but this was a pond exploration program.

We also do forests, seashore, birds, spiders, et cetera.

The students split into groups of around 16 Each with one guide, and we started on our two-hour programs.

We walked down the path to the ponds.

We looked at rotten stumps with holes in them and discussed which critters could nest in the holes created by woodpeckers.

Why are some ponds partially filled in with cattails?

Can you eat cattail roots?

And did the natives really use the cambium bark of the cattail to dye their clothing?

By the way, they did.

Who made the holes in the leaves, you see?

Then at the pond, the students begin collecting pond water samples with a net and with magnifying glasses.

They find .

So someone finds a poliwag.

And how does a poliwag breathe?

Through gills.

How does a frog breathe?

Anyway, so three FTEs, three part-time to keep us.

Thank you, Jean.

Aniya, Mohamed, Rebecca, Bolaquemo, and Andrea Ornelas.

And then we'll go back to the remote.

Aniya?

Hi, my name's Anaya, and I'm the interim executive director at Tutors Impacting Public Schools, also known as TIPS.

I urge you to renew the FEP levy.

This vital funding allows schools to partner with nonprofits like ours to provide trained classroom tutors during the school day.

So this year alone, we've partnered with 37 Seattle public schools, and our tutors support over 9,000 Seattle students and work side by side with over 700 educators to improve outcomes where it matters most.

Our tutors marry their communities and bring culturally responsive support to students who often don't see themselves reflected in school.

And they also build trust and provide consistency for students.

The results really speak for themselves.

At John Muir Elementary, TIPS tutors cut the number of second grade students missing foundational reading skills from 64% to 33% in just one year, with black students showing a remarkable 50% improvement.

This model really works.

It's cost-effective, evidence-based, and helps schools maximize their resources while providing personalized academic support when students need it the most in the classroom.

With renewed funding, we can expand to more Title I SVS schools and continue building a pathway for BIPOC tutors to teach in careers, which creates lasting impacts, not just in schools, but in the educator workforce.

So renewing the FAP levy is an investment in our future.

It's a commitment to equity and gives every child in Seattle the right to succeed.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anaya.

Did I get it right that time?

Thank you so much.

I'm so sorry.

Rebecca Bulakimo and then Andrea Ornelas.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Rebecca Bulakimo.

I am a Seattle Promise student in my final year of college.

I am supporting the Seattle Promise program because it helped me to get where I am and to get the college experience.

which I never thought it would have been possible.

Seattle Promise isn't only a program, but a whole community.

The Seattle Promise didn't only support my tuition, but it also supported my college journey since day one.

That is why I'm here to support this program, and I do know many parents out there want their children to get the higher education.

Here I am finishing with college and I'm very grateful for the program.

That's why I'm here, thank you.

Thank you, Rebecca.

Andrea Ornelas, and then we're gonna go remote.

Go ahead.

Hi.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Andrea Ornelas.

I'm a member of Lionel Local 242, and I'm here today in support of the renewal of the FEP levy.

With that, I ask that as an option to include state registered building trades apprenticeships in the levy's renewal.

I'm proud to be a product of one of these apprenticeships.

Through this path, I've had the chance to earn while I learn, avoid debt, and step into meaningful family supporting career.

My apprenticeship has not only changed my life, it's created stability, pride, and future I can build on.

Seattle Public Schools already championed the success through the Seattle Skilled and Construction Workforce Agreement.

This agreement gives graduates direct access to real careers on public construction projects, thanks to strong, assisting partnerships between the trades and the district.

Let's strengthen and command what's already working, including registered pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships, and this levy.

It is smart investment in equity opportunity and long-term community impact.

Thank you for your time and leadership.

Thank you, Andrea.

Colleagues, we have six remote speakers left and then about 35 in person.

Go ahead.

The next remote speaker is going to be Natasha Rodriguez and then Whitney Nakamura and then Erin Okuno.

Natasha, please press star six.

It's good to see people do well, right?

Okay.

Okay, hi, my name is Natasha Rodriguez.

I'm in eighth grade.

I've been part of El Centro La Raza for eight years.

One thing I like about this program, it's fun to be with friends and school trips.

They help me with homework and more.

I think this program is important because it brings people together.

And I wanna say thank you to El Centro and the city of Seattle for supporting us.

Thank you, Natasha.

Whitney Nakamura, and then Erin Okuno, and then Benjamin Ojeda-Valle.

Whitney, please press star six.

Go ahead, Whitney.

Hello, council members.

Thanks.

My name is Whitney Nakamura.

Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my strong support for the early learning investment in the current proposal.

I grew up here, and I care deeply about our city.

Over the years, I've supported many of our residents, primarily children and families of color and those with low income.

I've observed the transformative impact of local programs that work in the early years of a child's life.

As someone focused on early learning initiatives at United Way of King County, I've had the privilege of seeing the life-changing impact of the Parent Child Plus program.

I'm here to express my enthusiastic support for the city's long-term investment in Parent Child Plus, my gratitude for DEAL staff and their collaborative partnership, and my appreciation for the inclusion of the Parent Child Plus program in this levy proposal.

Parent Child Plus engages hard-to-reach low-income families, many of whom aren't connected to services or other programs because they experience barriers like racism, housing instability, limited English proficiency, and loneliness and isolation being new to the area.

The program is high quality, culturally and linguistically matched early childhood support.

According to a long-term local staff, are better prepared for kindergarten, have increased English skills of higher reading in third grade, and they're more likely from high school.

Thank you, council members.

for your leadership and commitment to supporting Seattle children and families, and especially our low-income families.

Our dedication and innovation here.

As you know, investing really in our children yield greater returns of lifelong achievement, improved health, and it contributes to the success and vitality of our region.

Thank you so much for including Parent Child Plus.

Thank you, Whitney.

Erin Okuno, then Benjamin Ojeda-Valle, and then David Haynes.

Erin, please press star six.

Good afternoon.

My name is Erin Okuno, and I'm a parent of students in Seattle Public Schools who's benefited from the theft levy.

My younger child was in the first cohort of SPP when she started at launch at age three and has benefited greatly.

She is now a thriving middle schooler in another levy-supported school.

I will keep this super brief.

I emailed in the rest of my testimony, so thank you for your time and thank you for investing in our students.

Thank you, Erin.

Benjamin Ojeda Valle, then David Haynes, and then Teresa Everett.

Benjamin, please press star six.

Benjamin, please press star six.

Go ahead.

You can speak and- Hello, my name is- Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Benjamin and- Can you guys hear me?

Yep.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Benjamin.

I'm in eighth grade and I'm a student in the active school program at Centro de la Raza.

I've been in this program for three years and it helped me a lot.

I get help with my homework.

I also like that we do fun activities like painting, art and crafts.

and learn about our cultures.

It makes me feel proud and connected to my community.

And I just want to say thank you to Central and the City of Seattle for supporting this program.

Thank you, Benjamin.

David Haynes and then Theresa Everett.

David, please press star six.

All right, thank you, David Haynes.

Ever notice people want a virtue signal how they care for troubled youth that they make money and power off of?

Why do they ignore the adults messing up the kids, derailing their progress in society?

How much money is paid to nonprofit executives claiming experts at gun violence, miseducating with judgments based on skin colors, while still running interference for repeat offenders acting like cops are the real threat?

while devil's advocates intimidate counsel, allowing a race war through the Seattle government's race and social justice lens.

We need proper childcare with vetted providers, with regulations to make sure kids aren't being used by shady businesses, getting rich, shortchanging kids and parents, while slum real estate obsolete for kids shakes down the quality denied, cheating kids and parents.

Plus we need regulation to put audio and video in, some of the schools in the, in the preschool and childcare to see like what's going on with our kids because Seattle is the epitome of racist woke misinterpretations of education and biology, creating a suspect untrustworthy curriculum.

We need proper interpretation of childcare.

What we don't need is progressive bottom of the barrel perverted pedophile grooming, racist woke policies, dumping their scorned experience on an innocent child.

abusing based on ignorant racist ideas of some past, filling in the blanks, taking it out on the wrong people that are based on diversity, equity, inclusion of the wrong ideas, perverting children's minds, perverting their bodies, trying to keep it from their parents, acting like, trust us, we know what's best for your kids while they're trying to dump their ignorant miseducations and hate on the innocents.

Instead of dealing with their problems, and the people that abuse them, they want to be put in charge, trying to undermine a child.

This is why Seattle needs to be purged of all its racist, rogue, progressive, bottom of the barrel Democrats and all your corrupt real- Teresa Everett.

Teresa, please press star six.

Go ahead, Teresa.

Good evening, council members, and thank you for your time.

When you invest in education and mental health, you invest in the well-being of the child.

Atlanta Street Center believes that there is nothing more important than what you do for a child.

My name is Teresa Everett and I have been working with Atlanta Street Center for almost 25 years and I wholeheartedly believe in their tagline that there is nothing more important than what you can do for a child.

Atlanta Street Center received support from the levy for our early learning program.

We were the first to do it in Western Washington.

We also have a mental health program and we also have a youth education and support program.

What does that look like?

Educational, experiential, hands-on, entrepreneurship, college exploration for students as young as third grade.

EL students, EL early learners being prepared for kindergarten and beyond, exploring the environment, exploring the neighborhood, public speaking, leadership, families, all being supported, children, youth, and their families.

What does success look like?

Early learning students are graduating college, the first cohort of graduating college.

Former participants are volunteering with our summer academy program.

So the very kids that were in our summer academy program are now volunteering.

Parents are employed with meaningful jobs.

So not only are the parents going through the program, they are also being hired by Atlanta Street Center and getting meaningful jobs in the community.

Participants are graduating college.

They're working at jobs like Microsoft.

They're coming back and teaching current participants technology.

They're serving on our Atlanta Street Center board.

They're doing all of these things as a result of being, as a result of Atlanta Street Center being funded by the FPP levies.

So we ask that you continue to support the levy, continue to give funds to FEPP and continue to do this work with us.

Thank you, Teresa.

All right, we're back in person, folks.

The next three speakers are Lisa Chick, Alex Schiff and Jeff Lamb.

If you'll come up to the mics, please.

Okay, Lisa, go ahead.

Good evening, council members.

I'm Lisa Chick, president at the Alliance for Education and a proud parent of two Seattle public school students.

For 30 years, the Alliance has led community efforts to support Seattle students.

We support all 104 SPS schools from the Rainier Valley to Northgate to West Seattle and all 50,000 plus SPS students and 7,000 staff.

We believe that an excellent and equitable education system is essential to an excellent and equitable city and that supporting Seattle students and educators is all of our responsibility.

And we know that school districts thrive when the community stands alongside them as committed and active partners.

That's why I am so delighted to voice our strong support for the 2025 Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy.

At the Alliance, we partner with Seattle Public Schools, the Department of Education and Early Learning here at the city, community-based organizations, philanthropic partners, and educators, students, and community leaders from across our city.

Together, we seek to understand what's working in Seattle Public Schools and what's not.

And we collaborate with all of those partners to bring solutions into the system that drive both equity and excellence.

We're grateful for the ways the current FEPP Levy deal and the city have supported our programs and partnered with us in complimentary ways for our work like the Right Now Needs Fund and the Seattle Teacher Residency.

The Right Now Needs Fund has provided more than 90,000 wraparound student supports to students in Seattle Public Schools since 2019, supporting them with food, housing, clothing, and educational supports.

And we're proud of the Seattle Teacher Residency, also supported with the FEP levy funds that has brought more than 250 highly trained and committed educators into SPS Title I schools, educators who reflect the diversity of the students they serve.

Programs like ours exist because of collaborative strategy and support and deliver on the mission of the FEP levy.

Thank you to Councilmember Rivera, the committee, and the DEAL team for advancing this critical resource for Seattle.

We stand ready to work with you to make sure students are ready to start, ready to learn, and ready to launch.

Thank you, Lisa.

Alex Schiff, Jeff Lamb, Aurelio Valdez.

Go ahead, Alex.

Hi, my name is Alex Schiff.

I am a retention specialist for Seattle Promise.

I work with students who have been admitted to the program.

We've heard a bit from some students as well as from parents, and I am here to testify as to the transformative power of our program.

Many of our students come in, they had never considered themselves as potential college students.

It is the first time they are seeing themselves as potential students in college and being able to access not only higher education, but the types of jobs that will be fulfilling to them and enable them to be a productive part of Seattle and the greater King County area.

Many of my students come in from backgrounds that are very challenged.

They are first generation.

They come from situations of poverty.

As you may have heard, we are not just a scholarship program.

We are a high touch program.

These students come in and we support them, not only in academic advising, but in connecting them with resources, mental health resources, finding them internships, some of them within the city of Seattle.

We have amazing partnerships with Project Baldwin to support our men of color.

We hope that we will be able expand these partnerships as well as expanding some of the resources for these students.

I also want to say that not only does Seattle Promise address the needs of students who may not have seen themselves as potential college students, but in a time where education is becoming very high priced, students from backgrounds where families expect them to go to college or find themselves priced out.

Seattle Promise is a way for all of our students to access education, regardless of their background.

Thank you.

Thank you, Alex.

Jeff Lamb, Aurelio Valdez, and Rory Nunez.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Jeff Lamb.

I am the proud principal of Cleveland STEM High School in Southeast Seattle, and I am a proud Seattle Public Schools parent of three students attending two levy schools.

Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the positive impact of the FEP levy on the Cleveland high school community.

Cleveland serves a remarkable student body, 86% students of color, half from low-income backgrounds, with a 98% graduation rate.

Last year, 75% of our applicants were admitted to the University of Washington, Seattle, far exceeding the citywide average.

Our restorative practices work has reduced informal disciplinary incidents dropping to a total of 10 this school year with only one student with multiple incidents and multiple means two.

These successes are due to years, years of intentional investment, innovation and partnership through the FEP levy and the school community owning the strategic planning process.

School-based levy dollars fund seven critically important staff members who provide supports like social work, restorative justice coordination, counseling, family advocacy, and case management.

This ensures that students who need extra support can thrive.

Our levy-funded community partnerships have helped us experience new breakthroughs in our partnership, specifically this year, with the East African community, resulting in significantly improved grades and attendance.

But beyond crucial programs and supports, the levy gives Cleveland educators the chance to dream.

It boosts morale and inspires us to focus on possibilities.

Instead of just meeting about emergencies and putting out fires, we discussed creating a thriving, just, and joyful learning community.

In our current political climate of fear and anxiety, the levy is a source of hope.

Cleveland is proof of concept of what that levy can be, and so I encourage you to please support the levy and ensure school-based levy funding continues.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Jeff.

Aurelio Valdez, Rory Nunez, and Lori Ross.

Please step up to the mic.

Aurelio.

Good evening.

Thank you, Seattle City Council, for their time.

My name is Aurelio Valdez Barajas.

I am an outreach specialist for the Seattle Promise Program, making sure high school seniors across Seattle Public Schools, especially from Lincoln and Nathan Hale, have a guaranteed first day of higher education at the Seattle colleges.

Like most of us in the room, I too was a public school student, and every day I step into work as the mentor that tells many of the SPS senior students that they are capable of not only attending college, but...

but completing the first degree as well.

This statement is heard for the very first time for many of the kids I have the privilege of working with.

Eliminating the barriers of college access for students all over the city is something I pride myself in doing and is only made possible through this education levy and through our department's talent and the progress our outreach approach has in each of these high schools all over Seattle.

This is why I'm voicing the need to continue funding the Seattle Promise Program, making sure that high school seniors continue to aspire to become the first member of the family to graduate high school and attend college.

Thank you.

Thank you, Aurelio.

Roni Nunez.

Roni.

Roni.

Roni Nunez, Lori Ross, and Manuel Aslai, please come up to the mic.

Roni, go ahead.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

About eight years ago, I stood before you as a 13-year student at South Seattle College.

Share my story about being a small kid at an island of Guatemala, the support of Mr. Chappelle as a graduate from Rainey Beach High School, and how the 13-year program helped me support transition from high school to college.

I'm here today to share a 2.1 version of my story.

Post-13 year, I transferred to the University of Washington, graduated with a marketing degree and minors in nonprofit, tuition-free.

All thanks to a team who believed in me and told me, if you want to go fast, go alone.

If you want to go far, go together.

And I chose to go together.

Hi, I'm telling you, my name is Ronnie Nunez, and I'm an outreach specialist with Seattle Promise.

I work with students at Seattle World School, the Center School, the Interagency, and just like me, most of the students never thought about college until we talked to them about Seattle Promise.

I'm so happy to be part of the Seattle Promise team and our student journey.

I encourage you to continue to support the city education lobby and the Seattle Promise.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Dani.

Lori Ross, Manuel S. Lai, and CJ Dancer, please come up to the mic.

Lori, go ahead.

I'm Lori Ross.

Pardon me just a moment.

I rewrote this, so I'll be peering closely at the paper.

Again, Laurie Ross, and I echo what Maggie and Melanie said.

Thank you very much, those of you who spoke with us and those of you who heard us about preserving the environmental education in Seattle.

It's very gratifying to have been heard.

I want to continue that conversation and that thought by asking that the ongoing discussion recognize how tightly environmental education school programs are tied to education and services for the general public.

The Volunteer Sun Guides are rooted in the Interpretive Center at Discovery Park.

We share resources and staff expertise with the people who administer and coordinate programs such as nature camps and preschool and the accessibility shuttles at Discovery Park that go down to the beach.

as well as programs that are brought to community centers, such as the Garfield Community Center Family Garden.

Our training includes staffing tables at city events such as Daybreak Star Pow Wow and Big Day of Play, and simply maintaining park presence, sometimes with a nature table, an interpretive table, during high-use seasons.

answering some of the nonstop stream of questions that also come to the ELC, the Interpretive Center.

And that was the end of that sentence.

Sorry.

I am asking that any funding structure take into account the heightened value of our programs as synergistic offerings and that the issue of funding the operation of the Discovery Park Interpretive Facility be brought forward sooner rather than later and considered while finalizing this levy proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lori.

Manuela Sly, CJ Dancer, and Dr. Monica Brown, please come up to the mic.

Manuela, go ahead.

Buenas tardes.

My name is Manuela Sly.

I'm a mother, educator, Seattle Council PTSA board member.

I live in Seattle.

I'm a current member of the Levy Oversight Committee, and I'm here to testify in support of the whole families, education, preschool, and promise levy package, the whole thing.

I know this levy will continue to make a difference in the lives of Seattle children, especially those with the highest needs coming from families with financial access and language barriers.

As an early childhood educator, I deeply understand the need for high-quality learning programs for the young children in this great city.

In the formative years, we must focus on a strong foundation for kids to develop the skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives, including social-emotional learning across all preschool programs.

I have witnessed the success of the Seattle Promise opportunity for high school graduates.

As a parent, I'm proud to share that my oldest daughter found her path after two years of community college to successfully transfer to the University of Washington and now ready to receive her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in women's studies.

To say that her family, friends, and community are proud of her is an understatement.

Thanks to Path to UW, she joins thousands of students that have accessed a college degree thanks to Seattle Promise and the support of Seattle residents that believe in education as a way to succeed in life.

In closing, I ask the City Council to believe in our students and to continue to support all the components of the FEB levy.

I also want to thank my fellow Seattle voters for their support to renew the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy and the Every Child Ready initiative.

We must work together for public education.

Thank you.

Thank you, Manuela.

CJ Dancer, Dr. Monica Brown, and Lulu Heron, please come up to the mic.

CJ, go ahead.

All right.

Good evening, council members and committee chair, as well as my former boss, Dr. Rappel, and my former co-workers of Deal.

Thank you so much for this opportunity.

My name is Clarence Dancer, Jr., I am the executive director of ACE Academy.

And I'm speaking in favor of the levy, the whole levy, but specifically in the K-12 post-secondary space.

As one of the former team members who helped to develop Seattle Promise, I'm excited and my heart is warm to hear about all the successes that Seattle Promise has had.

But there's also a lot of other success within the K-12 space.

and in particular, the work that we do with ACE through our break camps for our middle school young men, including the spring break, mid-winter break, and summer camps.

We support middle school young men and help them develop and be prepared going into high school.

Through that program, we also are able to offer high school and college students internships.

And for some of them, this is their first time having a job.

And so not only are we creating job opportunities for youth, we're also creating a near-peer support mechanism and mentorship for young people.

And that's very important for their success.

The other area that I would like to point out is the work that we do within Black Educators that is supported also through this funding.

So we're able to provide a safe space for Black male educators within the city.

As you know, there are few and far between within our schools.

And even within their schools, they're often isolated in the work that they do.

So we're able to provide safe space for them to come and receive mentoring, receive supports, and to be in place to work with one another.

So I am in support of the levy for many reasons, and thank you for this opportunity.

Thank you, CJ.

Dr. Monica Brown, Lulu Heron, Sorry if I'm mispronouncing that.

Go ahead, Dr. Brown.

All right.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Monica Brown, and I have the privilege of serving as the president of South Seattle College.

And I'm here today to speak in support of every Child Ready initiative and specifically the Seattle Promise program.

and I'm thankful for your time this evening.

I am relatively new to Washington and to the Seattle area, having joined Seattle Colleges in August 2024 from the other Washington, that is Washington, D.C. And one of the things that drew me here is the focus and the attention that is given to education and the incredible government and community support for it.

Having joined Seattle Colleges in August 2024, I think about what I've seen in such a short time.

I've been here now for just a little over nine months.

And when I think about what I've heard from Seattle Promise students and you heard from a former student this evening who is now working in the Seattle Promise program and the impact that it has made on his life and the impact that he is making on the lives of others.

It is a gift that keeps on giving.

So I've been dedicated to higher education for more than three decades and I'm driven by a belief that we create genuine opportunities for growth and prosperity in our communities every day.

And this is exactly what the Seattle Promise Program does.

It is a cornerstone of this mission and I am deeply grateful for the City of Seattle's partnership and support in opening doors for our graduating seniors from the Seattle Public Schools.

I want to thank you for your time this evening and for your steadfast support of education in Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr. Brown.

We have Lulu Heron.

I'm going to try this again.

Shakree Karie.

Hopefully I said that.

correctly.

Shayla Brown, can you please step up to the mic if you're still here?

Lulu's not here.

Or Shakree.

So Shayla Brown?

Are you Shayla?

Terrific.

Come on up.

Thank you for being here.

Go ahead.

Good evening, council members.

I humbly stand before you as a member of my community, as a Seattle Public Schools graduate, and my most dedicated job as a mother of a second year college student who is also a Seattle Public School graduate.

I currently am a site director for School Connect Washington.

As site director, we understand the difference.

A lasting motto that we all have heard is, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

The minds of our students are challenged each day by individuals who understand the misfortunes and imbalances in several of our communities.

At School Connect Washington, we strive to close gaps and empower minds under four pillars of social justice.

Ensuring that we close academics and educational gaps through high impact and high dosage tutoring.

Working directly with staff and supportive staff and ensuring reinforcement for academic support for our students and their families.

parents working directly with parents to ensure that they know what their children are doing, where their children are, and that they are safe.

And this includes wraparound support services from a holistic approach to an academic and social-emotional support level.

Community, working closely with our volunteers who dedicate endless hours and time to ensure that we are also succeeding not only them, our staff, students, community, but also the staff of School Connect.

This levy funding is not only a need, it's a must to ensure that we have those future leaders that we call our futures, thinkers and doers.

Thank you and have a wonderful evening.

Thank you, Shayla.

Annie Wilson, Jordan Goldwarg, and Huyan Lam.

Please come up to the mic.

Annie, go ahead.

Good evening, my name is Annie Wilson.

I'm a program assistant at School Connect Washington and a reading interventionist at Stevens Elementary School and Seattle Public Schools.

I am passionate about teaching the magic of reading to all students, but especially those furthest from educational justice to the ones who are often left behind by our system.

I joined School Connect Washington because we step into the gap.

As a reading interventionist, I spend every day meeting students where they are and helping them take ownership of their reading.

We use strategic, research-based instruction that's systematic, explicit, and consistent, grounded in the science of reading.

We build competence so that our students can build their confidence.

But here's the truth.

There's not enough time in our school day.

to give the students everything that they need, especially those navigating poverty, home insecurity, and learning a new language.

Teachers like me are constantly searching for equitable academic after-school options, but the barriers are real, costs, transportation, and trust.

At our Bethany community site, we serve over 20 McKinney-Vento and multilingual learners from Daniel Bagley Elementary School, five days a week.

Our students arrive exhausted, balancing language acquisition and academic development all day.

When they walk through our doors, we celebrate them.

We don't just tutor, we nurture.

Safety, joy, and belonging come first, because that's the foundation of learning.

As a multi-year FEP levy recipient, School Connect Washington removes those barriers.

It gives students the time, space, and relationships they need to thrive academically and emotionally.

And it works.

In just six months, our scholars have grown more than a full grade level in reading.

This summer will continue that momentum, eliminating the summer slide.

Thank you, Annie.

Jordan Goldwarg, Huyin Lam, and Jennifer Kovac.

Jordan?

Thank you, council members.

My name is Jordan Goldwarg.

I live in District 4, and I'm the executive director of One World Now, a youth development nonprofit located in District 2 and serving primarily low-income students across South Seattle.

I'm here today to express my strong support for the renewal of the FEP levy and to urge continued funding in the levy for programs offering academic enrichment, social-emotional learning, and culturally responsive leadership development for youth.

Programs like One World Now help to close the opportunity gap for students in our city, work that we could not do without the support of FEP funds.

Simply put, FEP funds have been a game changer for our organization and the students we serve.

With the funding we received, we were able to expand and hire new positions that are critical to allowing us to provide the level of service that our students and families deserve.

We hired a new position focused on student and family engagement, which is providing a range of supports to ensure that students successfully complete the program and earn the academic credit that we offer, which in turn helps with on-time graduation and expands post-secondary options.

In the years that we've received FEP funds, we have seen the completion rate of our program increase dramatically.

Funds have also allowed us to deepen organizational equity through things like translating written materials into a range of languages commonly spoken by our families.

To conclude, I want to share the words of one of our recent graduates who expresses the value of this program better than I ever could.

She said, I feel that it is extremely important to keep programs like One World Now alive because not only does the program promote growth of individuals, but serves as an important resource within our communities and educational systems, closing the gaps within our educational structures in priceless ways.

One World Now staff have helped me become the leader and risk taker that I am today, and I am forever grateful for that.

Again, I urge you to include supports for out-of-school academic enrichment, social-emotional learning, and culturally responsive leadership development in the ready-to-learn strategy.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jordan Huynh Lam, Jennifer Kovac, and Lori Nicholson.

Please come to the mic and I'm sorry if I mispronounced your name.

Go ahead.

No, you didn't butcher.

Good evening city councilman.

My name is Huynh Lam here, principal at Rising Star and my AP Jennifer Kovac.

We are here today to pretty much, are you guys up for closing the gap?

helping students in poverty, helping students who have another language, who have you seen that from COVID are struggling and are not making any gains nationwide, right?

We are able to do this at Rising Star here.

Evidence today, as you've heard from many schools here, so we appreciate where you're taking the time to hear the principals, teachers, and staff who are doing the work and showing you the results, what levy funding can do.

When I started at Rising Star seven years ago, there was no levy funding.

And guess what?

Rising Star was considered a school folks don't wanna attend, Behavior was a problem.

Students were not making achievement.

Less than 30% of students, guess what?

It's not because our students are not brilliant or teachers are not capable, but there is a lack of funding where there is more needs than we could handle with the fundings we have.

With Levy, That is where the gap is closed.

We were able to use that funding to provide SEL, all sorts where you've heard already.

I don't need to show you, but here today my AP and I wanna show you the results where we have changed the story and the trajectory for many of these kids.

And I've shared a story where I came from poverty.

and my siblings went through the pipeline, prison to pipeline, and so I want to see changes.

And I know your decision makes a big impact for our kids, and I hope you're here today where Levy that goes directly to school that knows what their school needs and will provide the resources to attack students with language, students with IEP, students who are homeless, we will make it happen.

So I wanna share with you, my AP will share the results that you can see here, the data and the trajectory that Levy has made the change.

Thank you.

I'm just gonna wait until the time starts over.

So my name is Jennifer Kovach.

I'm the Assistant Principal at Rising Star.

But unlike Ms. Lam, Huen, I've been at Rising Star for 14 years.

So I have truly been able to see the difference between before Levy and after Levy.

And the levy gives Rising Star approximately $300,000 a year.

What does that money buy?

It fills in every little gap that we have so that we can have many, many more full-time adults working with students and after-school programming.

We used City Year for our after-school programming and we've been able to buy curriculum that we wouldn't have been able to buy before.

And the results are this.

We don't have data for the Smarter Balanced Assessment in 20 because of COVID or 21 because of COVID.

But in 2022, we'd like to share these results, which maybe will get broadcast.

I don't think anybody can read them when, but we brought them to leave with you.

Black students in 2022, third, fourth, and fifth graders all averaged together, were scoring at 24% proficiency.

In 2023, they were at 24% proficiency, again, 24.5.

But in 2024, last year, 49% of our black students were proficient on the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

Our Hispanic students started in 2022 at 19%, with a small sample set of less than 10, so we can't really count that.

But in 2023, they were at 36.8%, and last year, 42.9%.

Students with IEPs started at 11%, moved up to 18.5%, and last year passed with a rate of 27.8%.

Our multilingual learners, 40% of our students at Franklin, started at 14% proficiency, moved to 22.7%, and then ended at 40.3%.

And all students altogether at Rising Stars started at 33%, moved to 40.6%, and ended at 56.3%.

Thank you, Laura.

Thank you.

You can leave those materials in the box, and we'll make sure...

the council members get them, thank you so much.

Laura Nicholson, Mark Rivers, and Alan Tempe, please come up to the mic if you're here.

And then followed by Madison Sanabria, Ryan Tran, and Ashley Miller.

You Laura Nicholson?

No, are you Mark Rivers?

Go ahead, Mark, thank you.

Stability is everything for a child.

as we all know, as we all once were children.

And so this is a chance for you to get that right for them, for you to provide something that they know when they show up, this thing is here, this gap is filled.

For me, the little niche that I'm in is school safety, right?

And all I have is the data, which is in 30 weeks, we're 30 for 30, with no young people being shot on our watch.

And so if that doesn't tell you that what we're doing we know a little something about, then I don't know what does.

And so the stability of that for the next how many ever years, I think that's what we're going for here.

We want our kids and our parents to know that they can show up and they can go home safe.

Right now, we have the data to prove that.

So I would just hope that...

Legacy, you guys get this one right.

Thank you, Mark.

Let's see.

It's either Alan or Alani Tempe.

Is that you?

Alana Temple.

I'm so sorry.

Alana, go ahead.

Thank you for being here.

Hello, my name is Alana Temple.

I'm the College and Career Facilitator at Chief Self International High School, a school that has one of the leading numbers of cultural diversity, a school with one of the highest numbers of students with IEPs, multi-language learners, students eligible for free or reduced lunch, and students who are first-generation students as well.

Many of our students belong to one or more of the groups that I just listed, and that intersectionality creates a plethora of unique needs, unique needs that are not similar to our other high schools who have a similar background as us, needs that cannot be understood from our website test scores or any other generic data.

It is understood by the people who choose to show up every day and support our students in navigating the array of barriers that are systemic that they must maneuver.

The school-based levy funding has been instrumental in allowing us to provide adequate staffing to create and sustain the systems that our students need.

One of these examples is my position.

When I first started at Chief Self, our financial aid completion numbers were one of the lowest in the district.

In a matter of a year, we jumped up to being one of the top three highest.

and are one of the district leaders.

Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty about how schools will be able to use their levy funding, and I urge the council to remember our unique voices and our understanding of our needs and to allow our voices to not just be heard, but also honored, valued, and not dismissed so that the systems we've worked so hard to create will be upheld and not unnecessarily dismantled.

Thank you, Alana.

Madison Sanabria, Ryan Tran, and Ashley Miller.

If you're here, please come up.

Ryan and Madison were students from Chief Self, but they had to go.

Okay, thank you, Alana.

Clarence, CJ Nguyen, Zam Zam Mohamed, Segal Ibrahim, and Hafsa Don.

Do you want to come with me?

Are you Zamzam?

I am Zamzam Muhammad.

I just want to note, too, that the individuals that were behind me just came with me as a support and accidentally signed up.

Is that Sagal and Hafsa?

Okay, well, thank you for being here.

Go ahead, Zamzam.

Good evening, city council members.

My name is Amza Mohamed, and I am CEO of Voices of Tomorrow, a Seattle preschool program provider serving immigrant and refugee communities in South Seattle.

Of Voice of Tomorrow, we proudly operate one of the only Somali English preschool program in the nation.

Thanks to the levy, we serve children directly through our preschool program, but also through our in-home family child care hub, a network of Somali, Amharic, Oromo speaking home-based providers who now operate a formal preschool program through coaching, curriculum, and support.

These providers are community-rooted multilingual.

One of them, Qadra Dahir, was recently honored with a gold medal, and as well as a teacher of the year by the Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning for scoring the highest city teacher assessment.

That level of excellence in the Somali-speaking classroom proves what's possible when equity and language access are prioritized.

The need for dual language programming is clear.

Today, over 153,000 Seattle residents, that's like 22% of the population age five and up, speak language other than English at home.

That includes large population of young children growing up bilingual, children who deserve classrooms, who are both in their language and are valued.

Mayor's Every Child Ready proposal investment is a bold step in the right direction.

It will expand the very program like Voices of Tomorrow to a language preschool program that Seattle deserves and the community and the children that we serve.

We hope that you expand the levy.

Thank you, thank you, Zamzam.

So I have another Sagal Himalay, is that?

Also supporting, okay, perfect.

And then let me go back to Madison Sanabria, Ryan Tran.

Oh, sorry, and Ashley Miller as well?

Okay, so now we have about six more folks, Rachel Evans, Tara Mitchell, and Jennifer Kovach.

And Jennifer spoke, I think.

Are you Rachel?

I am.

Perfect.

Go ahead, Rachel.

Hello.

I feel like I'm getting you guys on Friday's sixth period before spring break.

Here we go.

No.

My name is Rachel Evans.

I am in my 16th year in Seattle Public Schools as a teacher.

I have two sons.

One is a junior at Chief Self.

One is in the eighth grade at Denny.

And I serve as the academic intervention specialist and the levy coordinator at Chief Self.

Shout out, Councilman Saka.

Good to see you.

In schools, we joke sometimes about other duties as assigned that are tagged into our job descriptions because everybody is operating at a greater than 1.0 capacity every single day.

But when I think about the team that we have funded through the school-based investment, it's no exaggeration to say that there is no way that we could absorb the work of these people.

There is no way that this work can be absorbed.

And so while I know that the funding for the K-12 investment has been approved on some level, I know the details are going to be worked out.

And I'm here to really urge you, as you've heard from a couple of other people, most recently Principal Lam, that investing in the school building is a very important part of the levy.

giving us the opportunity to get what we need for the kids that we know and that we work with every single day, to have continuity of service throughout the day, to have these people coming to our MTSS meetings, available in a crisis, available after school, at our staff meetings.

It is critical that when the kids need services, there is a person there to provide the services.

Working with CBOs is awesome.

There's so many great ones, and we love that as well.

But at that point, when you're only supporting through a CBO, the kid has to be ready when the CBO partner is there instead of us being there to support them whenever they need us.

So I urge you to continue that funding.

Thank you, Rachel.

Tara Mitchell, Jennifer Kovach, although I think she already spoke, and Claire Campbell.

Tara, go ahead.

I'm Dr. Tara Mitchell, and if she got you six period, I'm the faculty meeting on that same day, so I'm gonna try to keep it short.

I currently serve as the executive director for City Year Seattle and I'm going to speak from that space, but I also want to share that I have experience with previous levies as a principal at Roxhill Elementary, and I've seen what it does on the principal side, and now I'm seeing what it does on the nonprofit side.

Our organization utilizes AmeriCorps members to serve in schools to increase capacity, by supporting small group interventions for reading and math, as well as whole school support at recess and after school programming, as Principal Lamb had shared.

This year alone, our teams collectively have provided over 26,000 hours of service to more than 2,000 students within Seattle Public Schools.

City Year and other organizations like City Year increase the capacity and allow for more students in schools to receive targeted small group interventions or individual supports.

With the increased funding challenges, schools are not able to continue these essential partnerships without the Family Education Preschool and Promise Levy, and so I'm standing here in support saying, We stand ready to serve in community with community, and schools now need the support, financial support, in order to be able to stand alongside with us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tara.

Jennifer Kovach, just making sure she's okay.

She's already spoke.

Claire Campbell, Dominique Davis, and Jonathan Madudu.

Sorry, I butchered that.

Claire Campbell.

Great, go ahead, Claire.

Good evening, council members.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the inclusion of environmental education funding in the levy.

I've worked for nearly a decade in nonprofit environmental education.

During my tenure as an educator, I've had the opportunity to work to facilitate experiences for many hundreds of young people to experience connection with each other and with the natural spaces in their community.

I'm pretty sure there's nothing more magical than witnessing young people experience wonder and excitement in the green spaces in their community, especially when those same spaces used to feel inaccessible or even unsafe.

For decades, our city's environmental education programming has been providing safe and welcoming programming to thousands of youth and adults every single year.

More than 40% of their school programs in 2024 were funded by scholarships.

As staffing is contracted and the program's capacity is reduced, the people who will lose out will be our youth in low-income neighborhoods.

While schools with more resources may be able to afford private programs, under-resourced community organizations and schools will not.

I urge you all to formally commit to not only preserving environmental education programming as it currently exists, but also to commit to creating a plan to expand it and center the voices of those most impacted by environmental racism and economic injustice in our community.

Thank you for your support and your dedication to our city's youth as you navigate these challenging funding decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you, Claire.

All right.

I'm going to just say these names.

I don't think they're here, but Dominique Davis or Jonathan Madudu.

Going once, going twice.

And Clerk, any other speakers signed up?

Nope, that is the last of it.

Okay, great.

Everyone who wanted to speak got an opportunity.

Colleagues, I cannot thank you enough for hanging in there with me to make sure that everyone got their time and everyone who wanted to weigh in had the opportunity to do so.

This is the only hearing we're having for the levy, for passage of getting the levy on the ballot.

And I wanted to make sure that everyone who had an opportunity to speak could do so.

So thank you for hanging in.

with me past the seven o'clock hour.

So, all right, this concludes May 12th, 2020. Oh, oh, Council Member Strauss.

Thank you, Chair Rivera.

I just wanted to take a moment of personal privilege to thank the Department of Education and Early Learning for sticking with us.

through this entire presentation.

And I know that Chair Hollingsworth will get us out by 740 next Monday as well.

And I know that OPCD will be with us that entire public hearing.

But in all seriousness, I don't always see a department stick with us through the end of a public hearing regarding the levy that affects their department.

I'm pretty sure SDOT was here most of the time.

We passed lots of levies, but I just want to say that special thank you to your department.

And thank you for being out here.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Strauss.

You stole my thunder.

I was gonna get to that part on our next thing, but this concludes the May 12th, 2025 meeting of the Select Committee on Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy.

And here's what I was gonna say.

Colleagues, again, thank you for sticking with me.

And then a special shout out to Director Chappelle and Marissa Roussel, Izzy Fajardo and Amanda.

Um, who do I see back there?

Uh, Alejano's, Chris Alejano's back there, and Leilani's back there, and, and Gemini's back there, and I'm missing two that I, actually, the only two, or three that I'm, I've never met, but.

Deal, thanks for being here, all of you, and sticking with us to hear our presenters.

I know that you all care as much as we do up here about hearing public comments, so thank you for sticking around.

Our next committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 15th.

It's Thursday at 9.30 a.m.

If there's no further business, this meeting will adjourn.

Hearing no further business, it's 7.42, and this meeting is adjourned.