Voters in the Arlington, Lakewood and Monroe school districts approved maintenance and operation levies Tuesday, staving off millions of dollars in education cuts.
School leaders were nervous going into Tuesday’s election. Levy proposals in all three districts failed in March, and by state law the school district’s had only one more chance this year to pass their ballot measures.
School levies require a 60 percent "yes" vote, and the districts comfortably surpassed that threshold. All three also received enough votes to legally validate their results.
"Wow! That is such a relief," said Linda Byrnes, superintendent of the Arlington School District, who was told by several determined voters that Tuesday’s windstorm and downed power lines didn’t prevent them from getting to the polls.
While there have been several close calls in recent years, the last time there was a double levy failure in Snohomish County was in the Snohomish School District in 1994.
Here’s a breakdown on each district:
The Arlington levy missed passing by an inch in March but won by a mile Tuesday.
"This time, we were much more grass-roots with our outreach," said John Burkholder, a father with two students in the district’s schools who was chairman of the Citizens Levy Committee. "It was tiring and nerve-racking. The community really got together."
The Arlington district faced steep cuts if the levies failed. The cuts could have included the equivalent of 50 to 65 full-time administrative, teaching and nonteaching jobs, no new textbooks, larger class sizes and the elimination of many high school sports and extracurricular programs.
Local levy money accounts for about 18 percent of the district’s $37 million budget.
The levy rates are $3.09 per $1,000 of assessed value for 2005, then will drop each of the next three years, hitting a low of $2.90 per $1,000 for 2008. The levy would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $618 in 2005.
Lakewood had lots of ground to make up after the March election when it fell 5 percentage points shy of passing. It did so by a healthy margin Tuesday.
Dave Kiefer, chairman of the levy committee and a father with two students in the district, said the volunteers worked hard to appeal to individual voters about the importance of local funding of the schools.
"We assigned buddies to get people to vote," Kiefer said.
Superintendent Larry Francois said the results provided a huge relief.
"This has been a very time-consuming, stressful focus for employees, parents and kids," he said. "I’m glad for them we can put this behind us and move forward."
The Lakewood School Board had reviewed a detailed budget-cutting plan in the event the levy failed.
At stake Tuesday were four or five teaching slots and the equivalent of eight to 10 full-time nonteaching positions. Also on the list of potential cuts were the curriculum director, sports and after-school programs, and everything from field trips to fifth-grade outdoor camp. Deeper cuts would have been required in 2006.
The levy, which raises more than $3 million a year, accounts for about 17 percent of the school district’s annual $18.5 million budget.
The levy proposal is for $3.19 per $1,000 of assessed value the first year, dropping to $3.13 per $1,000 the final three years. For the owner of a $200,000 home, the cost would be $638 in 2005 and $626 for each of the ensuing three years.
Monroe, which came within one-half of 1 percent of passing in March, finished well above the 60 percent requirement this time around.
The Citizens for Monroe Public Schools committee made three rounds of reminder calls to voters it believed would support the levy, said Tracy Daugherty, co-chairwoman of the campaign.
Monroe’s four-year proposal would raise an average of $8.8 million a year over the four-year levy. It makes up about 17 percent of the district’s $43 million basic operations budget.
The proposed rate for 2005 is $3.19 per $1,000 of assessed value, up from $3.09. that means the tax on a $200,000 home would rise from $618 a year to $638 in 2005, then increase slightly through 2008.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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