Tri-City school levy supporters ramping up efforts, not taking chances

The leader of the effort promoting the Kennewick School District’s upcoming levy renewal says you can’t take anything for granted.

That’s why the Kennewick Citizens’ Bond and Levy Committee put up more yard signs throughout the community over the weekend. They’ve also joined with similar citizen groups in Pasco and Richland to coordinate advertising campaigns to raise awareness and encourage people to vote.

“We’ve been planning for months just so we can keep the momentum going,” said Kennewick Chairman Kevin Veleke.

Eight school districts in Benton and Franklin counties are asking voters to renew their maintenance and operation levies, which go toward everything from teacher salaries and computers to school nurses and after-school programs. The special election is Feb. 9. Support for the levies is typically strong when they are up for renewal, with some districts receiving far more than the minimum approval of just more than 50 percent.

Some state education officials have begun raising questions about the legitimacy of local levies as a means of calling state lawmakers on the carpet to fully pay for basic education. Local issues and dissatisfaction with a district also can threaten a levy’s renewal.

But levy supporters said they aren’t overly concerned, saying they don’t expect the state to tamper with local levies in the near future and are optimistic voters will turn in their ballots and do what they’ve frequently done in the past: support schools.

“We believe people will ultimately see running against the kids is the wrong thing to do,” said Jamie Southworth, one of the leaders for Pasco Citizens for Better Schools.

Ballots will start being mailed Jan. 20. They must be in the county’s auditor’s office or an official ballot dropbox by 8 p.m. Feb. 9.

Maintenance and operation levies often provide between 15 percent to 20 percent of a school district’s annual budget. The money from levies can’t be used to build new schools but school officials have said that without them they would struggle to support school athletics or fine arts programs such as music. The money also pays for building maintenance, school resource officers and counselors, among other things not covered by state dollars.

“It’s all the extras kids are excited about,” Southworth said.

It has been an ongoing issue that districts need the levies to pay for what most consider basic education services, an obligation the state Supreme Court has iterated is a state responsibility, most recently in what is commonly called the McCleary case. But this fall state Superintendent Randy Dorn raised the issue of whether that means districts even have the power to raise levies to pay for those services, asking Attorney General Bob Ferguson for a legal opinion.

“Basic education is a state responsibility,” Dorn said in a release. “Districts don’t have the authority to use local levies to make up what the state chooses not to fund.”

Ferguson has declined to give an opinion on the matter.

Levy supporters said they were aware of Dorn’s interest in dismantling local levies and are paying attention to what he or the Legislature may do. But Veleke dismissed the possibility that state lawmakers will take any steps soon, particularly during this year’s short legislative session. Districts also aren’t waiting to see if the state addresses the lack of proper funding before their levies expire at the end of 2016.

“We don’t think the state’s going to cover everything so we have to have another source of revenue,” said Rich Puryear, executive director of financial services for the Richland School District.

In Pasco, there’s more concern about how recent controversies could affect voter sentiment. Many residents criticized last spring’s superintendent search process as less than transparent. A teachers’ strike in September that delayed the start of school by nine days led many parents to side with teachers over district administrators.

But Southworth said Pasco’s committee has seen many turning out for strategy meetings to promote the levy and the group has a strong campaign planned, particularly on social media.

“We know we had a rough start (to the school year) but we’re encouraged,” she said.

This story was originally published January 17, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Tri-City school levy supporters ramping up efforts, not taking chances."