CITY OF SEATTLE
ORDINANCE __________________
COUNCIL BILL __________________
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the Seattle Preschool Program; amending Ordinances 124509 and 124749, by amending the action plan and the implementation plan; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.
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WHEREAS, by Ordinance 124509, The City of Seattle (City) placed before voters a proposition to authorize the City to levy regular property taxes for up to four years in excess of the 101 percent limitation and any other limitations on levies in chapter 84.55 RCW for the purpose of providing City services, including a demonstration of preschool for certain three-year-old children and all four-year-old children; and
WHEREAS, Ordinance 124509 also approved an Action Plan that spelled out the broad contours of the Seattle Preschool Program, but provided in Section 1.B. that the Action Plan may be amended through future council ordinance; and
WHEREAS, on November 4, 2014, the City's voters approved that proposition; and
WHEREAS, a major focus of the Action Plan is to narrow the opportunity and achievement gap that is present in Seattle's educational system, and the Action Plan recognizes that on average, children from low-income families and children of color have fewer opportunities to become appropriately prepared for the social and academic challenges of the K-12 system than their peers; and
WHEREAS, in Seattle Public Schools, students of color meet third grade reading standards at a rate 31 percent lower than white students; they are suspended or expelled at three times the rate of their white peers in grades six through 12; and they graduate on-time at a rate 24 percent lower than white students; and
WHEREAS, as the City continues to refine the Seattle Preschool Program to meet the needs of the community and its children, narrowing the achievement gap should remain an essential outcome of the program; and
WHEREAS, the Mayor is proposing to amend the requirement that all children...
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