School solicitors

A sprained ankle didn’t stop Cody Thompson from walking door to door to spread the word about the two school levies in Mead.

Using crutches, the 15-year-old hobbled up and down neighborhood streets in Colbert, ringing doorbells and encouraging residents to vote “yes.”

“We’re just going from house to house asking people to support the levies,” said the Mt. Spokane High School freshman, handing out fliers to people who answered the door.

Accompanied by his dad, Colin, Thompson was among more than 100 people who canvassed the Mead area Saturday to inform voters about a special March 14 mail-in election whose outcome significantly affects the budgets of their public schools.

Voters have another three weeks to send their ballots, but Mead and other school districts are treating this weekend as their deadline. Based on a small amount of data from other all-mail elections in the state, districts are expecting voters to mark their ballots within the first three days of receiving them.

The urgency has led parents, students, teachers and others throughout the county to become cheerleaders by knocking on doors, standing with signs on street corners and cold-calling people to win votes for school levies and bonds.

“Usually we would just be starting to get into high gear, but this is uncharted territory,” said Mark Anderson, assistant superintendent for Spokane Public Schools. “We thought we better make sure we get everyone educated by the time the ballots dropped.”

Campaign volunteers for the committee supporting Spokane Public Schools were out leafleting last weekend. This weekend they stood on street corners with signs seeking “yes” votes for a renewal of the district’s maintenance and operations levy.

The Mead Citizens Advisory Committee has raised $12,000 to campaign for the district’s two levies – one for technology and another to support programs and operations. The money came not only from parents, but also from local businesses, civic groups and others in the community.

“The reason people vote for levies is that we all have a responsibility to care for each other,” said Tom Robinson, a parent and volunteer with the Mead schools campaign. “The whole is more important than the individual.”

Saturday’s campaign, which began with a rally at Mead’s Covenant United Methodist Church, drew parents, school board members, teachers, custodians and many others involved with public schools. It’s a cause that many are passionate about, including Kelly Sutton, a mother of two children attending Mead schools. Sutton wants so badly for these levies to pass that she even recruited her mom, sister-in-law, niece and a neighbor to take part in Saturday’s canvassing effort.

“This is really a celebration,” said Jon Iverson, a teacher who’s president of the Mead Education Association. “We’re here to celebrate strong schools, committed teachers and staff and our supportive community.”

In addition to Mead, Central Valley parents and community volunteers organized doorbelling campaigns Saturday to inform residents about measures on the ballot. They will be calling voters next week to remind them to mail back ballots.

Central Valley is asking voters to approve both a renewal levy and a construction bond to build two schools and remodel aging ones.

“It’s just so different. We know voters got the ballot, but we don’t know if they’ve mailed it in or not,” said Dennis Olson, chairman of Kids First, the campaign committee for Central Valley schools. “We’re focusing on getting information out to as many people as we possibly can – now – and reminding those who haven’t to mail their ballots.”

School district maintenance and operations levies make up between 15 percent and 20 percent of school district budgets to pay for various school programs not funded by the state.

Because most districts are asking for some kind of voter-approved measure this election, districts and campaign committees decided to band together for the first time to buy advertising and to hold joint question-and-answer sessions on a call-in television show.

“The message was that over 70,000 young people attend public schools in Spokane County, and we know that strong schools build strong communities,” Anderson said.

The joint effort was also meant to keep voters from feeling overwhelmed with information, campaign officials said.

“I think people are asked for an increase in their taxes on a fairly regular basis, everything from STA (Spokane Transit Authority), increases for the jails and other local issues,” said Robinson of Mead. “Sometimes it gets to be a little bit much for people to keep saying yes, even though everything they are asked to say yes to is a good thing for a community.”