Levy Hysteria

The Sound Politics opposition to the Seattle Families and Education Levy, questioning whether this sacred cow actually yields any milk, seems to be having something of an impact on the public discussion. Come see how some of the levy campaigners are starting to lose control of their senses as they spin harder and harder to try to sell their milkless cow.

Today's Seattle Times ran a delirious op-ed from a United Way official who helped design the levy proposal:

All Seattle children deserve to be adequately prepared for success when they begin school. The 2004 Families and Education Levy will do precisely that

What will these people try to sell us next? A Health and Happiness Levy that "will do precisely" to banish all sickness and unhappiness from within the Seattle city limits? The last 14 years and $138 million of levy spending produced very little in the way of tangible results. The burden is on the levy promoters to re-establish credibility and lay out some achievable goals and realistic promises. But op-eds that lead with such disingenuous gasbaggery should convince any serious voter to give this levy an unceremonious heave-ho. In the meantime, it has persuaded me to never give a dime to the local United Way, at least as long as the comedian who wrote this piece is still on the payroll.

It's in the P-I

Today the Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its second pro-levy editorial in less than two weeks:

Properly, some levy supporters and critics alike have called for more focus on raising test scores and documenting results. The new measure has been designed to do so. But there are also areas such as keeping kids in school where the test scores may show little or no change but the benefits are powerful for everyone.

We're disappointed that the P-I editors expect so little from our schools and our schoolchildren that they declare victory when children simply stay in school all day long even if they don't actually learn anything. I, for one, am not embarrassed to expect more of our schools, our children and the outcome of $117 million tax increase.

(As an aside, the P-I's earlier editorial deemed the levy "affordable". It should be affordable to the P-I editors. Nearly all of them live outside Seattle and won't have to pay it.)

Check our Seattle Families and Education Levy page for more information about the levy.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 31, 2004 12:29 PM | Email This