School levies passing across Washington

Election returns Wednesday showed school levies passing across the state, as many Washington voters proved willing to tax themselves to pay for education, even in hard times.

Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said voter approval of school operations levies shows people care about their local public schools and worry that budget cuts in Olympia are damaging them.

Across the state, 165 school districts asked voters to approve a total of $4.6 billion in maintenance and operation levies on Tuesday. Eleven districts had bond issues on the ballot, four districts asked for transportation funds, and another 32 districts asked voters to approve $835 million in capital levies.

Nearly all maintenance and operation levies appeared to be passing, but some districts seeking approval to sell bonds or approval for levies to construct new buildings were unsure of passage. The election results will be certified Feb. 24.

Seattle voters appear to have approved both a $442.7 million operations levy and a $270 million, six-year capital levy.

Approval of the two levies with about 71 percent of the vote was just what the state's largest district needed to hear, Seattle schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson said.

"We need the support and collaboration of our entire community to reach the goal we have for our students - that they graduate from high school ready for college, careers and life," she said. "The consistent strong approval for Seattle levies is just one of the many ways in which our community shows that support."

Meanwhile, a bond measure in the Lake Washington School District was failing in early returns. The bond would pay to convert the district's high schools from three-year to four-year institutions to ease overcrowding in other schools.

A construction bond in Marysville also was failing, and a technology levy in Federal Way could go either way.

At least one school operations levy was heading toward failure: Of the 25 votes counted in the Selah School District election by Wednesday afternoon, 12 were for and 13 against. Some counties had not released vote counts in some levy elections as of Wednesday afternoon.

Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, said the elections were a testament to the various districts and how hard they worked.

"I think they see the state failing in meeting the needs of education and they feel like they need to step in at a local level to do it," he said.

Lisa Macfarlane of school reform advocacy group League of Education Voters told KPLU radio that the results of the school levy elections indicate the Legislature should give voters a chance to approve a tax package to prevent further cuts to education.

"Voters want their schools invested in. They want quality public schools. State lawmakers should hear a message that our public schools are our future," Macfarlane said.

Sen. Mike Zarelli, R-Ridgefield, does not believe the successful levy elections mean voters are ready to pay more taxes for schools.

"I don't think you can draw one conclusion from another," Zarelli said. "During good and bad times, school levies have been important to people."

He said this is especially true when the state reduces its contribution to public schools.

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AP writers Rachel La Corte and Brian Everstine contributed to this story from Olympia.