Published: Thursday, January 21, 2010
Eight county school districts ask voters for help
Edmonds, Everett, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Mukilteo, Northshore, Snohomish and Sultan have levies or bonds.
More than $1 billion is on the line for eight Snohomish County school districts asking voters to continue taxing themselves through local levies and bonds.
Ballots for the Feb. 9 special election will be mailed to more than 300,000 Snohomish County voters beginning today. It is an all-mail election.
Edmonds, Everett, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Mukilteo, Northshore, Snohomish and Sultan school districts have issues before voters.
All have four-year levy proposals that would replace expiring levies. School districts turn to voters every one to four years to pass levies, which provide funding for additional teachers and aides, salary increases, athletics and other extracurricular programs, textbooks, transportation, building maintenance and other expenses.
Everett, Lake Stevens, Mukilteo and Northshore also have special levies that would help pay for such things as building repairs and technology. Marysville and Northshore school districts hope to pass bond measures for school construction.
In addition voters in Bothell served by the King County Regional Library will be asked to lift a levy lid.
School districts receive about three-quarters of their daily operations budgets from the state. Many rely on local levies to pay for about 20 percent of their daily operations.
With the Legislature cutting state education spending last year, and expected to do the same this year, school leaders say local levies are critical.
Barbara Mertens, assistant director for the Washington Association of School Administrators, said she has never seen school superintendents so worried about their budgets in her 16 years with the statewide organization.
“My superintendents from corner to corner, up and down, are saying, ‘Honest to God, if they don’t pass, we don’t know what we are going to do.’ It’s keeping the lights on and the buses running,” Mertens said.
Bill Mester, superintendent of the Snohomish School District, is one of those nervous school leaders. His district had to make $5 million in budget cuts for this year based on state budget reductions. If the levy fails, Snohomish would have to cut $19 million.
“Given these economic times, we are particularly concerned about communicating the importance of the levy,” Mester said. “Our levies these days are covering essential things.”
Even if the levy passes, the district likely will have to make more spending cuts, Mester said.
Levy measures require a simple majority to pass; bonds need 60 percent.
School districts are given two chances in a given year to pass a levy or bond.
The last double failure in Snohomish County occurred in the Snohomish School District in the mid-1990s.
School levy elections typically take place between February and April. That election cycle is largely based on school budget cycles and the state law requiring districts to inform teachers each May if they will have a contract for the following year, Mertens said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
Upcoming stories
Here is the planned coverage in The Herald for school bond and levy issues that are on the Feb. 9 ballot. These stories can also be found on www.heraldnet.com after publication.
Jan. 25 – Lake Stevens School District
Jan. 26 – Snohomish School District
Jan. 27 – Marysville School District
Jan. 28 – Everett School District
Jan. 29 – Mukilteo School District
Feb. 1 – Edmonds School District
Feb. 2 – Sultan School District
Feb. 3 – Northshore (Bothell) School District
Ballots for the Feb. 9 special election will be mailed to more than 300,000 Snohomish County voters beginning today. It is an all-mail election.
Edmonds, Everett, Lake Stevens, Marysville, Mukilteo, Northshore, Snohomish and Sultan school districts have issues before voters.
All have four-year levy proposals that would replace expiring levies. School districts turn to voters every one to four years to pass levies, which provide funding for additional teachers and aides, salary increases, athletics and other extracurricular programs, textbooks, transportation, building maintenance and other expenses.
Everett, Lake Stevens, Mukilteo and Northshore also have special levies that would help pay for such things as building repairs and technology. Marysville and Northshore school districts hope to pass bond measures for school construction.
In addition voters in Bothell served by the King County Regional Library will be asked to lift a levy lid.
School districts receive about three-quarters of their daily operations budgets from the state. Many rely on local levies to pay for about 20 percent of their daily operations.
With the Legislature cutting state education spending last year, and expected to do the same this year, school leaders say local levies are critical.
Barbara Mertens, assistant director for the Washington Association of School Administrators, said she has never seen school superintendents so worried about their budgets in her 16 years with the statewide organization.
“My superintendents from corner to corner, up and down, are saying, ‘Honest to God, if they don’t pass, we don’t know what we are going to do.’ It’s keeping the lights on and the buses running,” Mertens said.
Bill Mester, superintendent of the Snohomish School District, is one of those nervous school leaders. His district had to make $5 million in budget cuts for this year based on state budget reductions. If the levy fails, Snohomish would have to cut $19 million.
“Given these economic times, we are particularly concerned about communicating the importance of the levy,” Mester said. “Our levies these days are covering essential things.”
Even if the levy passes, the district likely will have to make more spending cuts, Mester said.
Levy measures require a simple majority to pass; bonds need 60 percent.
School districts are given two chances in a given year to pass a levy or bond.
The last double failure in Snohomish County occurred in the Snohomish School District in the mid-1990s.
School levy elections typically take place between February and April. That election cycle is largely based on school budget cycles and the state law requiring districts to inform teachers each May if they will have a contract for the following year, Mertens said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.
Upcoming stories
Here is the planned coverage in The Herald for school bond and levy issues that are on the Feb. 9 ballot. These stories can also be found on www.heraldnet.com after publication.
Jan. 25 – Lake Stevens School District
Jan. 26 – Snohomish School District
Jan. 27 – Marysville School District
Jan. 28 – Everett School District
Jan. 29 – Mukilteo School District
Feb. 1 – Edmonds School District
Feb. 2 – Sultan School District
Feb. 3 – Northshore (Bothell) School District
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