Simplify school funding

This page once again calls for a simple-majority vote to pass school levies.

Voters should approve the constitutional amendment, Engrossed House Joint Resolution 4204, on the Nov. 6 ballot. A "yes" vote would eliminate the tyranny of the minority, bringing school money measures around to the one-man/one-vote principle. Also eliminated would be the arcane requirement of minimum voter turnout: at least 40 percent of those who cast a ballot in the most recent general election. This prerequisite created an unfairly high threshold for approval.

For more than six decades, our state has required school levies to receive 60 percent of the vote to pass. This extra constraint is placed on schools only.

As this page wrote three years ago, "We trust a simple majority of voters to make taxing decisions when it comes to parks, libraries, fire districts and other services." Schools shouldn't be held to a higher standard when it comes to raising funds.

State lawmakers dawdled on this issue for years before summoning a two-thirds majority to send the simple-majority question to voters. The resounding theme of the legislative vote was, "Let the people speak."

The people should say "yes."

Lawmakers and the public have called for higher student achievement. It only makes sense to give districts a more reasonable shot at raising the money needed to pay for improvements and reforms.

Seattle has been on the losing end of levy elections. It is equally heartbreaking to see small districts such as Clover Park Schools in Lakewood lose despite a 59-percent "yes" vote. Precious dollars to keep repeating supermajority levy elections are better directed to classrooms.

Fifty percent plus one is how our democracy works. Education is deserving of such democracy.