Election Update: Pasco school levy still failing. The gap narrows
Late ballots counted Wednesday narrowed the gap between “yes” and “no” votes for Pasco School District’s replacement operations levy.
Election night results initially showed the four-year, $153 million measure failing by 270 votes.
Now, it’s falling short by 85 votes.
As of Wednesday evening, it had 5,306 votes in opposition, or 50.4%, to 5,221 in support, or 49.6%. That’s a difference of about 0.8 percentage points.
A Pasco spokesperson said they were still waiting for more ballots to be counted.
On election night, district leaders said it was “too early to determine the outcome” with just a 1.57 difference in percentage points. Pasco administrators are still holding out hope.
There are still about 147 unsigned ballots in Franklin County that were submitted and need to corrected, plus an undetermined number of ballots left to be counted from rural areas and that could still arrive in the mail.
Pasco School District asked voters to renew its education programs and operations levy. That tax pays for educational opportunities, technology, curriculum, athletics, extracurricular activities, music and the arts, counselors, nurses, transportation and student safety.
The district says the funding is essential and makes up about 10% of Pasco’s operating budgeting.
If the levy passes, the district would also receive about $14 million annually from Washington state through the Local Effort Assistance Program.
Pasco School District serves about 18,300 students in more than 30 schools.
It’s the only school district in the region with a levy failing in the Feb. 10 special election. Levies in Richland, Kennewick, Grandview, Columbia-Burbank, Kahlotus, North Franklin and Prescott were passing.
Across the state, 132 of 295 public school districts had measures on the ballot. About 92% of levies were passing, said OSPI’s Chief Communications Officer Katy Payne.
Pasco is one of just eight school districts in the state that are failing their levies but are within possibility of passing.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 6:08 PM.
