House lets simple majority raise taxes

From staff and wire reports

OLYMPIA _ Legislators get elected with a simple majority of votes. So why can't school levies pass that way?

The state House says schools should be able to raise property taxes with a simple majority vote. On Monday night the House passed a constitutional amendment to allow that, by a vote of 68 to 29.

The bill now goes to the Senate, where majority Republicans killed a similar measure last year over concerns that taxpayers could be hit with staggering increases.

The Washington Constitution requires that 60 percent of voters approve property tax levies for local school districts -- a legacy of a Great Depression-era property tax revolt by farmers. That means school levies can, and often do, fail with 59 percent of the vote.

A recent example is West Valley School District, where a technology levy failed last March even though 59.93 percent of the voters supported it.

"It's so disappointing," Superintendent Dave Smith said at the time. "I'm disheartened that we've come so close."

The district's maintenance and operations levy also failed after it earned support from 57.1 percent of the voters.

Maintenance and operations levies generally cover expenses not included under the state's rubric of "basic education," including textbooks, after-school activities and special education.

The technology levy provided the district with $500,000 a year for three years for computers and technology.

School district voters passed both measures in subsequent elections, but not without the additional costs of a second election to the school district.

"All we do today is give the power to the people to invest in our kids," said Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, her voice tight with emotion. She said she was inspired to run for the Legislature after being frustrated as a school board member when school levy votes failed just shy of 60 percent.

"It is devastating," Haigh said.

Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, said "majority rules" is the democratic way.

"Given the challenges taking place in public schools with education reform, it makes it more imperative than ever before that we do a simple majority to help districts get the funds they need," said Quall, the House Education Committee chairman.

Several Republicans argued that the measure was unnecessary and could overburden taxpayers.

"Changing our constitution is a very, very important step, and it should be a difficult step," said Rep. Barry Sehlin, R-Oak Harbor. He noted that in 2002, the failure rate statewide for school bond levies on the first try was 14 percent: "That does not seem to me to imply a tremendous, overwhelming problem passing levies."

Because it's a constitutional amendment, the bill requires a two-thirds majority in both the state House and the Senate. Then the measure would go to voters for final approval.

Last year's similar measure passed in the House with a vote of 73-25, only to die in the Senate. This year the House vote was a little closer, with some Republicans switching from "yes" to "no" votes. But it still got the required two-thirds to pass.

Senate Education Chairman Stephen Johnson, R-Kent, said he would only consider lifting the supermajority requirement if the bill included taxpayer protections -- for example, requiring that school levy elections be held in November to guarantee the highest turnout, rather than at random times during the year when voter turnout could be skewed toward levy supporters.

"There needs to be some constitutional protection for taxpayers so they wouldn't have a large spike in their taxes," Johnson said Monday.

Under House Joint Resolution 4204, the 50 percent majority would apply only to levies; construction bonds would still require a 60 percent vote to pass.