Senate OKs bill easing way for school levies

OLYMPIA – Capping a Statehouse fight that’s gone on for at least 14 years, the state Senate’s Democratic majority and a few Republicans on Thursday voted for a constitutional amendment that would make it easier to pass property taxes for schools.

“I believe with all my heart this is the day,” Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, said shortly before the vote. “The time has come.”

It passed, 33-16.

Local school officials were pleased.

“My first reaction would be ‘Hurray!’ ” said Polly Crowley, superintendent of the West Valley School District. “We’ve been sitting on the edge of our seats hoping this would happen.” The district saw levies fail – barely – in 2003 and 2006. Both passed on the second try.

The proposed constitutional amendment – if approved by voters at November’s election – would lower a decades-old hurdle that makes it hard for some school districts to raise enough local tax dollars.

Districts wanting to raise their property tax levies more than 1 percent a year must now win approval from a 60-percent “supermajority” of voters. The proposed constitutional amendment would lower that to the usual standard in an election: 50 percent plus 1 vote.

“Parents should not have their hearts broken when a levy gets 59 percent of the vote,” said Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle. “That is terribly demoralizing.”

The change would not, however, apply to bonds, which are typically used for construction and other major long-term investments in schools.

Lawmakers who oppose the change – Republicans and a few rural Democrats – said they don’t want to make it any easier to raise property taxes.

“It is an out and out property tax increase,” said Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver. “The fact of the matter is the citizens of the state of Washington want to protect the 1 percent limit.”

“Let’s face it, school districts will push the envelope when it’s easier to pass these,” said Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, predicting higher levies.

Thursday’s measure would also erase a long-standing requirement that at least 40 percent of the people who voted in the last general election cast a ballot in order for a levy vote to be valid. Under the change, any number of voters could approve a districtwide levy, so long as a simple majority of them vote yes.

The 60-percent supermajority rule stems from a Depression-era grass-roots push by an alliance of union members and farmers. But things have changed dramatically since the 1930s, lawmakers said Thursday, and voters should have a chance to decide the issue for themselves.

“Let the people decide,” said Sen. Rosa Franklin, D-Tacoma.

As several lawmakers noted, levy failures are a particular problem for impoverished rural school districts. It’s very rare for voters in urban, property-rich districts like Spokane or Seattle to reject school levies.

Rural lawmakers said that a high levy threshold forces schools to be accountable to local taxpayers. They predicted that voters will be uncomfortable with levy elections in which a small number of voters can set taxes for the entire district. And they said the real problem is the need for the state to steer more money into basic education, special education and transportation.