DEEL is proud to release the Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise (FEPP) Levy Year 2 Report, covering the 2020-2021 school year!

The 2020-2021 school year marked the second year of implementation for the seven-year FEPP Levy, passed by Seattle voters in November 2018. It also marked the most radical change in education service delivery in Seattle history, as public schools discontinued traditional in-person learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and many education services and community-based programs moved to remote or hybrid platforms for much of the 2020-2021 school year.

This new landscape challenged Seattle’s progress toward educational equity and brought a school year fraught with interruptions to learning—from technology obstacles and social-emotional challenges to spiking COVID-19 case counts and the staffing shortages they caused. Communities of color and lower-income families were most likely to be negatively affected by the health and economic impacts of the pandemic and less likely to have reliable internet access or parents working from home helping their children navigate online learning.

Levy-supported school and community partners were able to focus FEPP investments during the 2020-2021 school year on the students and communities that faced the greatest impacts from the pandemic. The FEPP Levy was passed with an emphasis on supporting students in historically underserved groups, including African American/Black, Hispanic and Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, underserved Asian populations, other students of color, refugee and immigrant, homeless, English language learners, and LGBTQ students, with the desired outcome that they are achieving academically across the preschool to postsecondary continuum.

COVID-19 adaptations to FEPP Levy investment areas during the 2020-2021 school year included:

• Seattle Preschool Program classrooms offered families remote, in-person, and hybrid programming options, as well as increased supports and lower tuition levels.
• Levy-funded tutors supported K-12 students online, at times joining students in real-time in their remote classrooms.
• School-based health services shifted their focus to telehealth options, mental health supports, and COVID-19 vaccine education, access, and administration.
• Family support workers provided technology resources, meal distribution, and other basic needs assistance for families most adversely impacted during the pandemic.
• College campus tours, including those to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), became accessible to more high schoolers by moving to virtual visits.
• Seattle Promise scholars were given flexibility to enroll part-time or defer enrollment during the pandemic.

Here’s a look at FEPP Levy highlights and equity results from the 2020-2021 school year:

The FEPP Levy Year 2 report also celebrates the innovative and dedicated work that school and community partners accomplished under the extraordinary circumstances of the 2020-2021 school year, and includes ten partner spotlights showing how FEPP Levy investments made a difference in the lives of Seattle children and youth during this pandemic year.

Results for Year 3 of the FEPP Levy, the 2021-2022 school year, are expected in late 2022, and DEEL expects to release the Year 3 report in early 2023.

Additional DEEL reports covering the 2020-2021 school year:

• Seattle Preschool Program Process Evaluation Final Report – December 2021
• Seattle Promise Scholar Persistence & Advising Support 2020-2021 Process Evaluation Report

DEEL extends deep appreciation to all FEPP Levy partners who have continued to serve Seattle’s children and youth throughout the most challenging school years likely ever experienced. The work ahead requires continued commitment to address the academic losses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and a renewed effort to close opportunity gaps and build educational equity, and it is that collective commitment that remains our strongest asset.

* Included in this report’s partner spotlights