North Olympic Peninsula supporters of a measure to allow public school levies to pass with only a simple majority vote are excited by the recent reversal of the vote, which was failing on election night Nov.6.
“It’s a really good deal for everybody,” said Charlie McClain, Port Angeles School Board president.
Levies make up a large portion of school district budgets and fill in the gaps state funds don’t cover.
Up to 24 percent of a public school district’s budget can come from levies, said Tracy Reinhart, Port Townsend School Board member.
“I know this is something we’ve really been working on to get it to this point,” she said.
Jefferson County was one of eight counties out of the 39 in the state to pass the measure.
In Jefferson County the measure passed by 6,721, or 53.2 percent, approving and 5,918, or 46.8 percent, voting against it.
“Port Townsend has always been very supportive of the schools,” Reinhart said.
The measure did not pass in Clallam County with 11,323, or 46.4 percent, voting for the measure and 13,091, or 53.6 percent, rejecting it.
The measure was passing by about 60 percent in King County where the extra votes coming in helped push the measure over the edge, which McClain said he was counting on to help the measure pass.
“I’m not going to count my chickens yet,” McClain said.
“But I had been projecting that King County would run at about 57 percent, and it has been running higher than that, and it is because of that, along with the fact that in Spokane and a couple other places, they were seeing some positive results.”
Shelley Taylor, co-founder of Washington State Property Owners for Predictable Tax Now, said she was disappointed.
“It is a very close election, and what that means is that nearly 50 percent of people were against it, which means that nearly 50 percent of people are fed up with taxes and afraid of escalating property taxes,” she said.
“You also have to keep in mind that those supporting the measure had $3 million to do this with and the con side had zilch.
“We actually didn’t have any kind of organized campaign against it.
She said that, even if the measure passes, she will continue the fight against property taxes.
“I’ll be a dog with a bone,” she said.
“I want to see what the money is for and where it is going and why they need what they need.
“It is no secret that the schools across the country and here specifically are not putting out students who are doing well. We have a huge drop out rate.
“My credo is that I want to see improvement in the students because that is what is important.”
In a separate effort to fight property taxes, her group is organizing a protest at 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 14 on the steps of the Capitol building in Olympia, she said.
“Our main mission is freezing property value assessments, but even if you don’t agree with our approach, if anyone is afraid of escalating property taxes, we hope they will join us.”
