Seattle Mayor Kate Wilson announced a plan that will make breakfasts and lunches free for all students in the city’s public schools. Beginning in fall 2024, the program, which previously covered only half of the city’s 106 schools, will be expanded to all schools. Funding will come from a $1.3 billion education levy approved by voters in the November municipal election by a simple majority. This local property tax is collected to fund programs not covered by the state’s basic funding, including preschool and support for students with special needs. The tax runs for seven years, after which it goes back to voters. The proposal still needs approval from the city council.
Wilson said this will give children a better start, improve the teaching environment for educators, and reduce family grocery costs. She emphasized that the initiative is intended to fulfill a campaign promise to make the city more affordable, especially for families with children. The mayor also announced an expansion of free and subsidized preschool programs.
The plan calls for a shift to year-round, full-day preschool operations. Currently many programs end in the afternoon and do not operate in the summer, which is inconvenient for working parents. Seattle’s preschool program uses a sliding fee scale — in the 2025–2026 school year, 70% of children attended for free. Wilson called extended hours a long-overdue step to support families.
The city’s childcare assistance program will also be expanded; it subsidizes fees for families whose incomes are too high to qualify for state subsidies but do not exceed 110% of the state median income (about $153,000 a year for a family of four). Additional measures include opening school-based health centers, free mental health services for teens and youth, and mentoring programs.
Notably, the expansion of local programs comes amid cuts to some state early-education initiatives. This year lawmakers reduced child-care subsidies and the “Transition to Kindergarten” program for four-year-olds. However, programs for low-income children are being expanded thanks to multimillion-dollar donations from the Ballmer Group, a philanthropic organization founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie. The organization invests in fighting poverty and improving social mobility, particularly in education — in Seattle they also fund a student achievement tracking system and teacher support. The reason for this activity is that the Ballmer family wants to “give back” to the community where they built their wealth, and the American education system relies heavily on local taxes and private philanthropy.
Seattle Schools Superintendent Ben Schuldiner urged families to return children to public schools, noting that nearly 20,000 children in the city are not attending them. Seattle is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., where many families have high incomes, especially employees of Amazon, Microsoft and Google. That makes alternatives to public schools affordable for a significant portion of the population. Main options include private schools (both secular and religious), homeschooling — popular among families dissatisfied with the curriculum or seeking flexible schedules — and charter schools, which have only recently appeared in Washington state and currently play a minor role. Some children also attend schools outside the district or specialized institutions. The primary reasons families avoid public schools are a desire for alternative educational approaches, such as Montessori or STEM-focused schools, or dissatisfaction with the quality of public education in certain neighborhoods.
The program announcements were made at a press conference at a playground in central Yesler, where sounds resembling gunshots were heard at the end of the event. Staff escorted the mayor to a safe location; there were no injuries — no link between the shooting sounds and the press conference has been established. Overall, Wilson’s initiatives, which also include apprenticeship programs and free tuition at Seattle colleges, are aimed at lowering the cost of living and strengthening the city’s status as a good place to raise children.
Based on: Wilson expands free student meals, childcare for Seattle families