Families waging low-cost, high-spirit levy effort

By Sanjay Bhatt
Seattle Times staff reporter

	MIKE SIEGEL / THE SEATTLE TIMES Broken window shades in a math classroom at Ingraham High School in North Seattle are an example of items that could be repaired if Proposition 2, a $178 million, six-year capital levy, passes Tuesday. New roofs and better computers also are on the capital-improvement list.
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They're not talking about the Democratic primaries. They're talking about renewing the Seattle School District's two levies.

It's a family affair at the Schools First! headquarters, whose interior may be an apt metaphor for the state of K-12 education in 2004. The phone bank is an outdated assortment of cord phones. The coffee pot, refrigerator and balloon maker are on loan. Paper for hand-drawn signs is the kind high school football players tear through at pep rallies.

If the flavor seems humble, the spirit is anything but. Campaign manager Ann Goos has a surprisingly sophisticated grass-roots network keeping the campaign vigorous in spite of lower-than-expected finances.

"I can't tell you how this campaign has moved from 'What are we going to cut?' to unbelievable support," especially from the PTSA volunteers, Goos said. "That's what kicked this campaign into total mojo."

The climax: sign-waving at 72 intersections around Seattle on Monday and Tuesday.

The Seattle district is banking on voters renewing the two expiring levies: Proposition 1, a $338 million, three-year operations levy, would fund 23 percent of the district's annual operating budget. Proposition 2, a $178 million, six-year capital levy, would pay for nearly 700 projects, including new roofs, plumbing repairs and upgraded computers.

According to the district, the tax rate for the local school levies will decrease from $2.39 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2003 to $2.12 per $1,000 in 2007, assuming property values increase at 6 percent a year.

If the levies are approved, owners of a $336,000 home — the average residence value in Seattle last year — would see their total schools-tax bill rise from about $830 this year to $865 in 2005, $880 in 2006 and $899 in 2007. These figures factor in the assumed 6 percent annual increase in property values and include a previously approved new-school construction levy.

Some campaign mailers state prominently that the levies "renew existing ones and yes votes will NOT lead to homeowners paying more!"

Stefan Sharkansky, 40, who wants to send his preschooler to public school, calls this "marketing spin" and misleading. He plans to vote against both levies.

"I was originally going to support the levy," the Green Lake resident said. "And I just wanted a simple question answered, which was how much was this going to cost me as a taxpayer. I tried to get an answer to that and it was very, very difficult."

Goos said the campaign stands by its mailings, including the language Sharkansky criticizes.

"That's his interpretation," she said. "I interpret that to mean the rate at which I'm going to be taxed is not going to increase."

Another district critic, Chris Jackins, said opponents can't sit out the election in protest because of the levy law's two requirements: At least 60 percent of the voters must approve the measures. And a turnout provision states that at least 24 percent of the number of ballots cast in the last general election must be affirmative. Jackins says that means a relatively small number of voters could raise taxes for everyone else.

Seattle officials say the levies are critical. Faced with the worst economy in years and state revenue that can't keep up with rising demands on public education, the district is trying to close a $9 million budget shortfall by eliminating 40 full-time equivalent positions. Should the operations levy fail, the district would also have to slash one out of every four jobs across the board. Veterans who were around during back-to-back levy failures in 1975 shudder at the thought.

In the 200 school-levy elections in Washington during 2002, 26 measures, or 13 percent, failed on their first attempt. Three school districts had levies fail twice. Districts may try only two times during a calendar year.

At Seattle's levy campaign headquarters, callers use lists of frequent and newly registered voters in their precincts. The campaign also has phone banks in the offices of the Seattle Education Association and the League of Education Voters.

"We think in a levy campaign that there is no better spokesperson, no better contact than parent to parent," said Goos, the campaign manager. But students can melt cold hearts, too. "We've had as young as a fourth-grader making phone calls."

On a recent night, Lowell Elementary student Graham King, 7, carefully drew and colored campaign posters while his mother, Betsey Curran, telephoned voters.

Curran, who lives in Wallingford, said she'll e-mail her Seattle friends Tuesday, reminding them to vote. Most of them don't have school-age kids, and the levy election is "just not on their radar," she said.

Just 18 percent of Seattle's 259,000 households include children under age 18, according to the 2000 Census.

Goos said there are economic reasons for all homeowners to support the levies. "I view having well-maintained schools in my neighborhood as a benefit to homeowners because it improves my home values," she said. "Your most significant investment other than your 401(k) can be your house."

Lisa Bond, president of the Seattle Council PTSA, said the campaign's challenge is to get a positive turnout.

"I hope that people are going to acknowledge the positive things that have happened in the school district recently," Bond said. "If there were ever a time to give your money to the school district and feel like it was going to be well spent, and not misspent, this is the time, with all the new financial safeguards in place."

Sanjay Bhatt: 206-464-3103 or sbhatt@seattletimes.com

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