Editorial: Voters should approve Mukilteo schools levy, bond

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 22, 2026

By The Herald Editorial Board

Marcus Satterlee was a senior at Mariner High School 12 years ago when he wrote a letter to the editor asking for voter support of a school construction bond and operations levy for the Mukilteo School District.

“As a student, I can say from firsthand experience that our schools are bursting at the seams,” Satterlee wrote. Both measures passed with more than 60 percent approval in the February 2014 special election.

Satterlee is back, this time as a community member and part of the Mukilteo Schools Foundation, again seeking support for two ballot measures: the district’s four-year educational program and operations levy, a replacement of the current levy; and a $400 million capital bond that will fund construction projects, upgrades and improvements throughout the district.

“This is my first year as part of a community effort to support the district I grew up in,” he said during a recent interview with district officials and others. The benefits of building and maintaining school facilities and programs, he said, are important and worth the investment asked of taxpayers in the district.

Proposition No. 1 on the Mukilteo ballot, the replacement levy, will collect between $61.2 million and $71.3 million between 2027 and 2030, assessing an estimated millage rate of $1.85 per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year and $1.91 in the final year. The levy requires a simple majority to pass.

For school districts throughout the state, such levies provide a significant portion of a district’s funding for operations and programs. For Mukilteo, the current levy is funding about 14 percent of its budget, said Superintendent Alison Brynelson, who has served in that role since 2020.

“Without that revenue, it would be a critical loss,” Brynelson said.

That 14 percent provides for a range of programs and activities that aren’t funded by the state, including athletics and extracurricular programs, music programs in the elementary schools, pay for substitutes, new curriculum and supplemental funding for services not fully supported by the state, she said.

State lawmakers in recent years have incrementally improved the state’s support for special education, but the district, like others, still isn’t fully compensated for the additional costs needed to educate students with special needs, she said. Currently, about $19 million in levy support is necessary to serve the district’s 2,200 special education students beyond what the state provides.

Another example: The state provides funding for 2.8 positions for the district’s safety staff, including school resource officers, yet the district relies on levy funding to employ a total of 11 for student and staff security needs at its three high schools, four middle schools, 12 elementary schools and a kindergarten center.

Proposition No. 2 seeks approval of a $400 million bond for construction and improvement projects throughout the district. Three-fourths of that amount is going toward major projects including $134.7 million for completion of the replacement of Explorer Middle School, $88 million for completion of the replacement of Mukilteo Elementary School and phases toward replacement at Serene Lake Elementary and Olivia Park Elementary as well as expansion and improvements at the Kamiak High School gymnasium.

But all schools in the district will see investments in security and technology, including perimeter fencing, access control systems and emergency network infrastructure. As well, most schools will receive upgrades to fire alarm systems, roofing, siding, windows and heating and ventilation. And nine schools will benefit from improvements to multi-purpose fields, playground equipment and other facilities.

It’s individual schools’ fields and playgrounds that provide a bonus benefit to the city, Satterlee noted, serving as secondary — if not primary — parks for many neighborhoods.

“It’s important to have that playground and other facility access in places where there aren’t enough parks,” agreed Shelly Henderson, the district’s director of capital projects.

It’s not difficult to assemble a detailed list of the district’s building and facility needs. The district still has some equipment that dates back to the 1960s, Henderson said. A list of potential infrastructure investments in the district topped $1 billion, before the district and its planning committee winnowed that down to the $400 million in the bond request.

But it was important that every school see some benefit, Henderson said.

“Every school see some positive impact from the bond,” she said.

As well, it was necessary for the district to balance its needs against what was reasonable to ask of the district’s taxpayers, Brynelson said. The bond election requires a 60 percent supermajority to pass.

A projection of the estimated millage rates for the district show, with passage of both levy and bond, an increase of 38 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, increasing the district’s total millage rate from the $2.84 rate for 2026, to $3.22 for 2027 through 2030.

For Mukilteo’s median assessed home value of $659,200, according to the Snohomish County Assessor’s Office, the combined rate will add about $250 to that home’s annual property tax bill.

The state constitution is clear that the state’s “paramount duty” is to public education. That’s a duty that’s shared with the communities that are served by the schools in each school district.

As the state faces broad budget challenges this year and in coming years, making it more difficult for state lawmakers to amply fund public education, it remains crucial that communities continue their support for their local school districts for levies, and especially for bonds, as local communities are predominately responsible for funding the construction, improvement and maintenance of school facilities.

Voters in the Mukilteo School District, in the interests of the 15,000 current students and the tens of thousands who will follow, should approve both measures.

Election information

Most school districts in Snohomish County are seeking voter approval for ballot measures for replacement operations levies, capital levies and/or bonds. Fire District 22 is seeking a $14 million bond for a new fire station.

Ballots have been mailed to registered voters and should be received soon.

For list and links to specific voters’ guides for special elections in your community go to tinyurl.com/SnoCoFeb10ElexGuides.

Levies require simple majority approval by a district’s voters. Bonds require a 60 percent majority for approval.

Voters should note that, because of changes to U.S. Postal Service policy, ballots returned by mail should either be hand-canceled by post office staff when dropped off or mailed well in advance of the special election’s Feb. 10 deadline to be assured that the ballot will be counted.

Ballots also can be returned to Snohomish County Elections drop boxes by 8 p.m. on Feb. 10. A list and map of ballot drop box locations is available at tinyurl.com/SnoCoElexDropBoxes.

For more information on elections and registering to vote go to tinyurl.com/SnoCoElex2026.