(The Center Square) – What began as a contentious political standoff over taxpayer-funded universal public school meals and gift card programs for low-income students has ended in a moment of consensus between Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and the city council.
The Seattle City Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized nearly $5 million from a $1 billion-plus 2025 taxpayer property levy to give Seattle children universal breakfast and lunch without students paying a meal fee, starting in September.
An additional $4 million to support low-income children through weekends and school holidays with food was also approved through a gift card program.
“Feeding every student in Seattle is a goal the City Council and I share, and I am grateful we were able to work together to find a fiscally responsible path forward, ” Wilson said in a statement. “This is a tremendous victory for families across our city that will make Seattle more affordable.”
Wilson first proposed her plan for universal breakfast and lunch for all public school students funded by taxpayers in April.
But the plan fell into jeopardy after City Council President Joy Hollingsworth and City Council member Dionee Foster came up with their own proposal.
The two, both of whom are Black, said a big food need was in Black and minority areas where kids were going hungry during school breaks.
They insisted that the universal meals program be halted for a year to instead use the levy funds to provide gift cards for food during those summer and school holidays for families in need.
The city council agreed by a 6-3 margin, which would have pushed Wilson’s program back a year to September 2027 in order to launch the gift card program.
“We do not need to be at odds with each other, and I was disappointed that we were,” said Councilmember Dan Strauss, one of the authors of the compromise. “I’m grateful for the fact that we are together now.”
The breakthrough came when city leaders pivoted to a blended, multi-tiered funding strategy.
Under the compromise, $4.74 million from the voter-approved Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise levy will secure universal meal coverage for students for the 2027-28 academic year.
To bridge the gap for the upcoming 2026-27 school year, the council’s budget committee, chaired by Strauss, will vote on Aug. 4 to draw funding from the city’s general fund.
Wilson had rejected the compromise last week, pointing out that the city faces a $175 million budget deficit for the coming year and questioning how Seattle could afford to fund it.
The money for the food assistance is supposed to go for six years, the length of the taxpayer-approved levy.
However, the city is assuming that funding after this school year will come from revenue from the state’s income tax on households earning more than $1 million per year.
But voters will get a chance in November to say whether the 9.9 % state tax approved by the Legislature earlier this year will be repealed. The tax also faces a legal challenge on in a case arguing the law is unconstitutional.