Great cities have great schools. One leads to the other. There’s no better investment in our future.

You’ve heard this all before—from every politician who’s come and gone. And that’s the problem.

In this city we treat education like it’s a hot potato. Everybody runs on it, but when things get tough they point to someone else and say it’s their problem.

That has to change.

I believe the mayor needs to be held accountable for the success of the school system. And if elected, that’s what I’ll do.

For the first two years of my administration I will put all of our available resources into helping our schools succeed. We’ll partner with parents. We’ll partner with teachers. We’ll partner with administrators, staff and the community to focus all of the city’s available resources on the success of our students and our schools.

But if that doesn’t help Seattle’s public schools improve, I will work to have the city take control of our school system. Urban schools fail when no one is held accountable. That’s why President Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan believes that mayors should take control of big-city school districts where academic performance is suffering.

What can a mayor do?

• Ensure our kids are safe at school
• Fund pre-kindergarten
• Create a public-private partnership for scholarships for Seattle High School graduates, similar to the Pittsburgh Promise
• Fund afterschool activities at the schools
• Support great transportation to and from schools
• Stand up for Seattle Public Schools in Olympia

Currently, responsibility is distributed between the administrators, the school board, the state legislature, and the city. No one is held accountable for failure, and our children and our communities pay the price. Seattle graduates only 63% of our children. Having more than one-third of our kids dropping out of school is not acceptable.

I pledge that our city’s schools will improve, and our children will receive a better education. And no one will be left wondering whose responsibility it is.

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