Its supporters say schools need help, and a statewide measure on the ballot next month will aid kids by making it easier to pass levies to pay for teachers, athletics and school buses.
Opponents of the measure — House Joint Resolution 4204 — argue that it will also make it easier for school districts to raise more tax money and that more than 98 percent of levies already pass within the two attempts state law allows each year.
Voters will decide Nov. 6 whether to lower the passing percentage from a 60 percent supermajority to a simple majority, 50 percent plus one vote.
The Legislature passed the resolution to amend the state Constitution, leaving it for voters to ratify or reject the ballot proposal.
Debate over whether to let school levies pass with a simple majority swirled around the Legislature for decades. It took a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate to send the measure to the ballot, where it will need a simple majority to pass.
Backers of the measure say too much is at stake not to campaign hard.
“Levies pay for necessities,” said Tracy Greene, a mother with two school-age children in the Edmonds School District. “There are no extras. There are no goodies. There is no cream. Schools are funded to the bare minimum.”
Louise Uriu, president of the Everett PTSA Council and a mother with two children at Everett High School, said changing state law to allow a simple majority for school levies has been a long-term goal of the state PTA.
To her, the 60 percent threshold to pass a school levy is a matter of fairness. While public votes to support hospitals and build stadiums require a simple majority, school measures require 60 percent.
“To give more power to a ‘No’ vote than a ‘Yes’ vote to fund education just doesn’t seem fair to me,” she said.
The campaign has broad-based support, including school boards, PTAs, labor groups, Gov. Chris Gregoire and all six of Washington’s former governors who are living.
Opponents say there is good reason to keep a 60 percent supermajority.
“Everybody refers to it as simple majority, but it’s not a simple issue,” said state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama.
Orcutt said he has always supported local school levies, but thinks the resolution makes it too easy to raise taxes.
“We don’t have a crisis in this state that merits a change to a statewide policy, especially one that is embedded in our constitution,” he said.
Sen. Janea Holmquist, R-Moses Lake, said voters had good reason in setting the bar higher for school levies years ago.
“This is going to allow much larger levies to pass and it’s going to make housing less affordable to seniors and working families,” she said.
Holmquist also said it could create inequities among districts that can pass larger levies and those that can’t.
“Our paramount duty is to fund education for all Washington children,” she said. “I don’t think the quality of your child’s education should depend on where you attend school. I think 4204 hurts our children by widening the disparities in per-pupil funding based on local property wealth.”
School districts turn to voters every one to four years to pass levies, which provide additional funds for such things as more teachers and aides, salary increases, athletics and other programs, transportation and building maintenance. Levies account for about 16 percent of school district budgets statewide, but that percentage can vary from district to district.
Unlike school bond measures, levy proposals renew an existing tax. School bond measures pay for construction of new buildings and remodeling of old ones and are included in a separate ballot measure. They represent a new tax and would continue to need a 60 percent supermajority for approval.
People For Our Public Schools, a campaign committee favoring HJR 4204, has raised more than $2.3 million, according to Washington Public Disclosure Commission records. There was no organized opposition raising money to fight the ballot measure.
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