What's up, South End?
Last week, I gave y'all my take on feeding students citywide. No surprise, I leaned hard on the proposed plan from the mayor to feed all kids as soon as possible.
A lot has happened since then.
On Wednesday, the City Council voted on an amendment put forth by Councilmembers Joy Hollingsworth and Dionne Foster that would have postponed universal free meals in favor of a program that focuses on providing low-income students with meals on holiday breaks and weekends. The Council approved the amendment 6–3. So, free meals for all kids appeared to be on hold for at least a year.
Then, on Thursday, in a move that caused my phone to explode with alerts, the Council pivoted and decided they did want to fund universal free meals for the upcoming school year. Led by a new proposal by Councilmember Dan Strauss, and co-sponsored by Hollingsworth and Foster, a plan is on the table to fund the meals with the general fund.
Wow.
The only thing that matters to me is feeding our kids. So, I appreciate Hollingsworth and Foster for coming around.
With so much happening over the past few days, and more steps still ahead to get this new proposal across the finish line, I wanted to speak with someone who was at City Hall for all the action.
Emerald contributing politics reporter Connor Nash has covered this process and was there for the vote on Wednesday. He explains what has happened, where we landed, and the next steps toward universal free breakfast and lunch in schools.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
MD: All of this started with an amendment to the mayor's proposal for universal free meals. Can you explain that amendment?
CN: It would take about $3.3 million and put into this bucket that is used for food assistance vouchers for in-need families, which currently gets money from the sweetened beverage tax, and instead of doing the universal meals for that first year, provide more funding for the voucher program. They wanted to provide those vouchers for the six years of the levy.
MD: You went to the meeting. People can read your reporting on what you saw there. But what is this new pivot?
CN: 24 hours after the vote, budget chair Dan Strauss said Council would do universal free meals using the midyear supplemental to pay for it.
MD: So now we have a new funding source for providing these meals. What's the difference between the two funding sources?
CN: If you want to do it from the FEPP Levy, it fits in within what the levy does, and it is safer in some aspects, because you have that pot of money. Where Strauss is coming from, though, as budget chair, is asking why we would take funds from the risk portion of the levy, which is supposed to account for things like inflation. We know things will get more expensive year over year for the six years of the levy. That money is supposed to be a cushion for inflation or the general unknown.
So, the mayor was kind of right and kind of wrong at the same time.
On the flip side, if the Council wants to do it from the general fund budget, which is the big pot of taxes that we pay into, it has a $175 million deficit. So you're gonna have to make cuts — or raise taxes.
MD: Hollingsworth and Foster had a plan to feed low-income kids on holiday breaks and weekends. Many people, myself included, loved this idea, we just wanted it in partnership with universal free meals instead of replacing it. Where does that stand?
CN: A lot of people don't realize this, but the voucher program from that amendment was already in place and is funded by the sweetened beverage tax. It gets over $500,000 annually. The recently approved amendment just provides the program with additional funding from the FEPP Levy.
This is one of the biggest stories in the city this week. Emerald reporter Connor Nash was on the scene at City Hall where the action took place.
Click here to read a detailed report on how everything played out, landing us with both a plan for universal free meals in public schools and more funding for low-income students to have free meals on holiday breaks and weekends.
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Mike Davis is the newsletter editor and Voices editor at the South Seattle Emerald. Born and raised in Seattle's South End, Mike is a longtime journalist who's covered everything from arts and culture to sports to politics.
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