By Erin Schultz, Schools First

The campaign to renew the Seattle Public Schools levies hosted a campaign phone drive Jan. 20 at the campaign headquarters as King County Elections mailed out more than 360,000 ballots for the Feb. 9 special election.

PTA representatives, educators, current and former students and Schools First supporters made calls to thousands of voters reminding them to check their mailboxes and encouraging them to vote yes on Propositions 1 and 2, the Seattle Public Schools Operating and Capital levies.

Central District Resident Ryan Curren came to the event for his 2-year-old daughter.

According to Ryan, “I want her schools to be good when she gets there. Education is just generally underfunded, so anything we can do to supplement the state’s insufficient funding is essential. I can’t imagine what our schools would look like without this levy funding.”

Another Schools First supporter and Ballard resident Noel Frame said, “I am here because even though I don’t have kids, public schools matter for all of our kids and throughout our community. We can’t afford to not pass these levies when they are nearly one-quarter of the budget.”

Levy funding currently accounts for 23 percent of the operations budget and 100 percent of the capital improvements budget.

Proposition 1, the Capital Levy, funds safety improvements, classroom upgrades to our schools, athletic field replacement, and improvements to technology for every classroom.

Proposition 2, the Operations Levy, helps pay for instructional programs, student activities, staff salaries, bilingual and special education services, technology infrastructure, student transportation and security and maintenance.