Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and members of the Seattle City Council have squashed the beef over school meals, reaching an agreement to pay for universal free meals during school days and vouchers for the neediest kids on weekends and holiday breaks, starting this September.
The first part of this compromise plan was completed yesterday, with the council’s unanimous approval of the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy (FEPP) levy implementation plan. This includes $4.7 million for universal meals next year and $3.9 million for the food voucher program. Then at next Tuesday’s Finance, Native Communities & Tribal Governments Committee meeting, council members will vote on one-time funding for universal school meals over the 2026–2027 school year.
This is essentially where we landed at the end of last week.
Councilmember and budget chair Dan Strauss says the additional $3.6 million for universal free meals this year will come from other programs’ underspent funds. Individual program budgets are sometimes underspent, leading to temporary savings that can be used for a future year or moved to another program (in this case, universal school meals). Strauss said the exact source of the money is still being finalized.
That deal came after a week and a half of tug-of-war between the Council and the Mayor.
Mayor Wilson had wanted free school meals for all public school students to begin this fall with money from the FEPP levy. But Council President Joy Hollingsworth and Councilmember Dionne Foster wanted to delay her plan by one year and use some of that money for the targeted food vouchers. They got their way at last Wednesday’s committee meeting, but faced serious backlash from progressives and food-security advocates. The next day, Hollingsworth, Foster, and Strauss announced the compromise to dip into the city budget so both programs could proceed without delay.
At first, Wilson was skeptical. In a statement, she said it could worsen the City’s $175 million general fund deficit. Though it’s not exactly clear why, it appears she changed her mind, calling the agreement “a tremendous victory” in a joint press release with the Council.
In an interview with The Stranger, Strauss stressed the appearance of unity among Seattle politicians.
“We took the weekend to figure out a plan where we can come in unison to say these food programs are important, and we will find the funding sources to do it in the right way,” Strauss said.
