Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tomorrow's City Council Vote on Two-Tier Transportation

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tomorrow's City Council Vote on Two-Tier Transportation:

Tomorrow's City Council Vote on Two-Tier Transportation

The full City Council will hear the legislation tomorrow about the City paying for a two-tier bus system for school year 2017-2018 from Families and Education levy funds.  Here is the agenda and here is the Summary and Fiscal Note.

According to the agenda, this item will come up in the first third of the meeting which starts at 2 pm at City Hall in City Council chambers.

Of interest from the Summary and Fiscal Note:

Summary:  

This legislation, if approved, would authorize the Department of Education and Early Learning to provide a one-time, $2.3 million payment to Seattle Public Schools (SPS) for a transportation realignment to a two-tier system and would appropriate funds to the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to fund school crossing guards.

From Background:

The Seattle School Traffic Safety Committee (a team including representatives from SDOT, Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Seattle Public Schools Transportation Department) recommends one or more crossing guards at 107 school locations in order to provide safe routes for students walking to and from school. Due to the current funding levels from the State and the resulting strain on the SPS budget, SPS is unable to fund the crossing guard program as it is focusing all available resources into classrooms. This legislation would use funds from the School Safety Traffic and Pedestrian Improvement Fund to support the crossing guard program.

Please describe any perceived implication for the principles of the Race and Seattle Schools Community Forum: Tomorrow's City Council Vote on Two-Tier Transportation: