KPLU Local News
(2010-07-06)
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Following the Washington legislature's decision to raise levy capacity, a number of school districts in the state are making plans to return to voters once again for help, following massive cuts to public education in the current deep recession.
AP file photo.
Holly Ferguson: "We have an opportunity to do something we maybe wouldn't have done otherwise."
Holly Ferguson is policy director for Seattle Public Schools, which is proposing a 48 million dollar operations levy for the general election. Didn't voters in Seattle - and around the state - just approve a flurry of levies a few months ago? Yes. Ferguson says more reveunues are needed.
Holly Ferguson: "Are we doing this just because we can? No, we're doing this because we have to. The state has not been funding public education in the state the way it should be."
The question for school districts is how much voters be willing to tax themselves. One issue is timing. Northshore, Edmonds and Marysville put their levies on the August primary ballot, along with Everett and Granite Falls . Others, like Bellevue and Tacoma, are not planning an extra levy, unsure how voters might respond.
Then there are districts like Olympia, where in the past voters have approved higher taxing authority than the state allows. So when the new levy law passed this spring, schools spokesman Peter Rex says the district was able to quickly patch some budget holes.
Peter Rex: "We were looking at layoffs a year ago. We're not looking at any layoffs for 2010-11, and in part it's because of that change to state law."
That law is a mixed bag for education advocates. Lisa Macfarlane with statewide group League of Education Voters says it continues the pattern of using local taxes to pay for Olympia's shortcomings. But Macfarlane says school districts aren't left with many choices. The state is one of the worst in spending per student. And Macfarlane says schools are losing their federal stimulus dollars.
Lisa Macfarlane: "That's going away, and that's why districts, like Seattle, are having to grab this lifeline."
Any school district planning on a November levy is going to find itself on ballot crowded with tax measures. They'll be betting voters will be as friendly as to schools as they were last February. Gary Davis, KPLU News.
Seattle Schools Operations Levy Proposal to be voted on by the school board on Wednesday, July 7th.
Information about Edmonds, Everett, Granite Falls, Marysville & Northshore District levies on August 17th ballot from The Herald.net (Everett)
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