February 10, 2011 in City

Economy sank bonds, schools officials say

Mail voting also cited in Mead, CV defeats

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The No. 1 reason Mead and Central Valley school district officials think their capital improvement bonds failed Tuesday: the economy.

“I had dozens of discussions with people who have talked about many things that they are dealing with as far as (economic) issues,” said Thomas Rockefeller, Mead’s superintendent. Ben Small, Central Valley’s superintendent, echoed the comment.

Passing a bond during times of high unemployment already is a challenge. Now, experts say there’s another element affecting special elections: vote by mail.

“I think the vote by mail has changed school elections,” Small said. “You see a higher percentage of people who say no.”

Todd Donovan, a Western Washington University political science professor said, “Vote by mail doesn’t have much impact on the major elections, but in those little elections it does. The main thing is age. You are making it easier for the older folks who would normally vote.”

A study of Oregon voters – which has used mail-in balloting exclusively since 1993 – found that on local issues, the amount of voter participation went up 26.5 percent in the vote-by-mail system compared with traditional elections. In Spokane County, turnout went from about 35 percent to 50 percent when it changed to postal voting.

Spokane County switched exclusively to vote by mail in 2005, so those who run bond and levy campaigns for schools are still learning what works.

“In earlier days, you could target the voters who voted frequently and not target the infrequent voters,” said Kerry Lynch, who has run school bond campaigns for three decades. “Vote by mail eliminates that.”

Lynch did not work on the Mead and Central Valley bonds, but she ran Spokane Public Schools’ 2009 bond campaign.

“In vote by mail, you don’t get to target your ‘yes’ voters. We had to look at the whole voting universe,” Lynch said. While Lynch thinks vote-by-mail is one reason the bonds failed, she too says the economy played a large role. “Bond levies, right now, people feel it’s something extra they don’t have to pay for,” she said.

Small and Rockefeller were disappointed about the bonds failing, but not completely surprised.

Although multimillion-dollar bonds for Cheney and Medical Lake passed in February 2009 despite an economic downturn that began in 2007, Rockefeller, the Mead superintendent, said he thinks the longer the economy has struggled, the more frightened people have become.

“I’d imagine we won’t take another proposal out to the community for several years,” he said. For now, “we’ll fix what is broken the worst and move on from there.”

Central Valley has not passed a bond since 1998. The district has gone to the voters three times since then. Support has waned in each vote, from 57 percent down to 47 percent in Tuesday’s vote.

Small said voters’ rejection this time cannot be tied to one factor. “We have to look at all reasons,” he said. The district has to have “open-mindedness to moving forward.”

Six comments on this story so far. Add yours!

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  oneanddone on February 10 at 4:00 a.m.

  Well, gosh, a new evil in the world - vote by mail. Wouldn’t want to have an election decided by a broader cross-section of voters, would we. Wouldn’t want a request for additional taxes to stand on it’s own in front of the ENTIRE electorate, would we. Just think if ALL elections were done this way. Funny thing, in Idaho, the corrupt legislature is trying desperately to make sure voting by mail is never allowed. They’re also trying to make it difficult to even get an absentee ballot. Can we guess why?

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  deacon46 on February 10 at 7:41 a.m.

  I cannot find any data that supports the notion that kids learn more or are better educated in classrooms with fancy walls in new buildings. The focus on education should be teaching. These folks who push for new buildings, moving schools, and umproven concepts in learning are just looking to have their name on some building. When I was taught the class sizes were 40 plus and in basic square buildings. Our education was the best in the world. Now it is not, after billions on bogus environmental aspects of learning. Back to basics folks. I would vote for money for computers for every child.

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  509ifyourlucky on February 10 at 8:48 a.m.

  I always vote “NO” on schools because the voters are really never told the true costs of education.

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  greenlibertarian on February 10 at 12:35 p.m.

  These folks who push for new buildings, moving schools, and umproven (sic) concepts in learning are just looking to have their name on some building. When I was taught the class sizes were 40 plus and in basic square buildings.

  Yeah, it shows how well you were educated. Not.

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  lewis8457 on February 10 at 1:35 p.m.

  Want to see your bond money at work drive by Shadle Park some time. There is a big sign saying this was a improvement from your bond money district 81 bought up half of Shale Park installed a nice stadium there and fenced it all in.

  For years they were given the use of that park for free, but some reason they had to buy it. Our bond money at work.

  Last summer Shadle high was transformed into a glass house and since then they replace glass panels on a regular basis because the kids shoot them out.

  I am with William, I went to Browne school at the time it had wood floors, then onto Glover basic building them Mead high when it was new. Fancy furniture and sky lights. The kids ruined the furniture, and marked up the fancy moving walls.

  Lets get back to basics why do we need architectural wonders when in reality we need good teachers and learning tools.

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  Dazzeetrader11 on February 10 at 8:49 p.m.

  We don’t Lewis. If teachers don’t teach like they”re supposed to, the kids don’t learn like they’re supposed to.
  Unions for the teachers have generated less with more.
  Greenie…a typo doesn’t mean our new poster isn’t educated, it means his typo is a typo. His idea is clear.
  I happen to agree with him. Kids don’t learn better or more effectively because of buildings. They learn because of teachers and parents who get their children to study.