2 in 3 Pasco staff didn’t vote on levy. School advocate points to ‘voter apathy’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- 36% of Pasco teachers and staff living in-district voted.
- Under 25% of registered Pasco voters returned ballots in February.
- If the levy fails in April, the district faces $50 million in cuts.
Much speculation has surfaced about why the Pasco School District’s education and operations levy failed in February.
They run the gamut, from theories of taxpayer fatigue, to questions of district inefficiency to even a lack of voter awareness.
But if you ask Valerie Moffitt, the result was a “perfect example of voter apathy.”
“I just have to tell you my Seahawks Super Bowl theory has been proved out when I discovered that 61 of Pasco’s coaches didn’t vote,” she told the school board at this week’s meeting.
The number is striking because the four-year levy renewal needed just 60 more “yes” votes to pass.
But it wasn’t just Pasco coaches who didn’t cast their Feb. 10 ballots.
Just 36% of Pasco teachers and staff who live in the district voted in the special election, confirmed a school district spokesperson.
Moffitt later told the Tri-City Herald that it’s not that the Seahawks’ Feb. 8 win over the Patriots and subsequent parade was so distracting that it derailed the outcome of the Feb. 10 special election. It is an example of the type of distraction, weariness and overall busyness that has preoccupied young families, stakeholders and teachers, she said.
“It just goes to the fact that people weren’t paying attention, and they were distracted,” Moffitt concluded.
Those coaches, she said, could have made the difference for the Pasco School District, which will have one more shot on April 28 to pass the local funding measure before it expires at the end of the year.
Moffitt says it’s a disappointing decision by people who have the most to gain from the levy’s passage. Levy taxes pay for $3.5 million annually for athletics programs, coaches salaries and equipment.
“I know that they know that these dollars support them and their livelihoods and their families, and I would think it would be paramount for them to be voting and supporting the Pasco School District’s ask for levy funds,” she said.
But there also were many coaches and athletics staff who did vote, a spot check of voter records by the Herald confirmed.
Publicly available election data shows who voted in an election, as well as when and where, but does not show how they voted.
“Our programs depend on the dollars we receive from levies,” Chiawana High School Athletic Director John Cazier, who voted, told the Herald. “There’s no doubt if levies fail it impacts our kids and their experiences and participation.”
Superintendent points to broader voter turnout
Supporters also have noted a general low turnout among all voters in the Pasco district. Less than 25% of the nearly 45,000 registered voters returned their ballots.
That included all five Pasco School Board members, records show.
Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney is reluctant to attribute the levy failure to voter apathy.
She said she sees the result as an opportunity to listen and learn from the community, and to improve their message on the impact of levy funded programs.
“Special elections — especially in February — typically have lower turnout, and this measure was decided by an extremely narrow margin,” she told the Herald this week in an email. “When it’s that close, it underscores how much every vote matters.”
Both Moffitt and Whitney agreed that district taxpayers have a strong history of supporting local schools, and have consistently showed up for previous elections.
Pasco history repeating itself?
Moffitt, 70, is a lifelong Pasco resident who for decades has been involved with and led prior levy and bond efforts.
She was the stay-at-home mom who would work on levy mailers instead of Christmas cards around the holidays.
Moffitt also led the February 2000 campaign that ended in failure. Before this month, it was the last time Pasco failed a levy.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” Moffitt recounts.
She believed that campaign was unsuccessful due to voter apathy.
In 26 years, Moffitt says the community has seen incredible change. Pasco’s population has more than doubled during that time, and has brought with it new generations of young families.
The district today serves about 18,300 students in more than 30 schools.
Families under ‘a lot of pressure’
Up until 2018, Pasco also ran levies on two-year cycles.
Moffitt said that practice was exhausting for campaigners and was costly to the district to run measures so frequently. But it also kept the issue front and center for families.
After the failure last week, she told the school board that a shorter measure would give the district more flexibility, especially as the federal government continues to divest from investing in public education.
But the Pasco School Board chose instead to go back to voters in April, requesting the same amount and for the full four years.
Moffitt, who comes from a farm background, believes working class families and local agriculture and food industries are having a tough time right now. The crushing impacts of tariffs and workforce challenges continue to stymie production, harvests and shipping.
Moffitt gets her advocacy for education from her parents. They and other families led efforts to save Edwin Markham Elementary School after the school district proposed closing because of low enrollment and budget cuts after the 1972 double levy failure.
Loss of local funding can also cause generational losses for students, who miss out on enrichment opportunities that their parents benefited from.
Pasco lost its orchestra program after the 1972 cuts. While the district was eventually successful in passing a new tax, it took 30 years for the school district to get that program back up and running, according to Herald stories.
Moffitt herself has played a role in reviving Pasco arts programs that were tarnished by the COVID pandemics.
If families want to help with the levy, Moffitt recommends getting informed on the facts, going to district meetings and getting engaged with the campaign committee.
“There’s a lot of pressure on families,” she said. “Everybody’s tired, but schools are so paramount to our community that they’re just going to have to pay attention and vote.”
If the levy fails again in April, the Pasco School District will face $50 million in cuts to programs funded in-part or solely by the levy revenue.
Levy revenues and state matching money make up about 15% of the district’s $340 million operating budget.
This story was originally published February 28, 2026 at 4:12 PM.
