Durkan Proposes Free College For Seattle High School Grads

SEATTLE, WA - Seattle mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan announced Monday morning that, if elected, she would seek to make college tuition free for graduates of Seattle high schools within her first year on the job. The "Seattle Promise" would provide tuition to public school graduates to attend any two-year community or technical college in the state, Durkan said Monday morning. Durkan's campaign is estimating the program would cost about $4.3 million in the first year, and rise to $7 million per year after that.

"With one in four Seattle public school graduates not pursuing a continuing education pathway, 'Seattle Promise' will provide two years of free tuition to public community and technical colleges, helping students complete a certificate, credential, or two-year degree or make significant progress toward a Bachelor’s degree," the Durkan campaign wrote in a press release Monday.

Room for funding the program, Durkan said, could be found in the existing city budget, but also said money could be pulled from the soda tax, the Families and Education Levy, and a taxpayer accountability fund from Sound Transit 3.

Durkan is facing urbanist Cary Moon in the general election. Last week, both candidates picked up big endorsements. Former mayor (and primary candidate) Mike McGinn and the King County Democrats endorsed Moon, while Durkan picked up endorsements from individual SEIU and Teamsters unions.

The two candidates last week also sparred in the press over housing affordability. Specifically, adopting a tax to prevent real estate investors from speculating on local real estate. Moon favors a tax on such investments, an approach that Vancouver, B.C., has used. Durkan was not in favor of the tax, and alleged that it was "anti-Asian" because it would affect Chinese real estate investors.

Responding to Durkan's "Seattle Promise" announcement Monday, Moon announced that the SEIU Local 925, which represents school workers ranging from para educators to bus drivers, had endorsed her for mayor. She also responded to Durkan's plan by lauding the idea and saying that funding for the program should come from "a statewide tax on capital gains for households earning more than $250,000" to "a tax on luxury real estate."

Image via Jenny Durkan