Levies crucial for schools, Manhas, others say

For longtime Seattle residents, school levies are simply a regular feature on annual property-tax bills, a line item that pays for everything from school lunches to new computers.

To answer some common questions about the two levies going before voters Feb. 3, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer spoke with Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Raj Manhas, finance director Steve Nielsen and former School Board member Barbara Schaad-Lamphere.

Q: Are these new levies?

A: No. The operating levy, which represents 23 percent of the district's budget, would renew one approved by voters in 2001, and the capital levy is a renewal of a levy voters approved in 1998.

Q: How are the levy amounts determined?

A: Levies are limited to a percentage of the amount that school districts receive in state and federal funding.

The limit is 24 percent in most districts, though some, including Seattle -- whose levy rate is 32.97 percent -- are grandfathered in at higher rates.

"We are basically staying at the same level," Manhas said. "It's trying to maintain the tax rate."

Nielsen said the district is maxing out on its levy authority in this proposal.

Q: Seattle's operating levy makes up 23 percent of the district's annual budget. Why are school districts so reliant upon levies?

A: When the system was overhauled in the 1980s, the rate was 10 percent, Nielsen said.

But since its later adjustment to the current level for Seattle, rates have stayed about the same for the past 15 to 20 years, he said. Years ago, districts had fewer unfunded mandates and more resources for transportation, special education and other basic expenses that they now tap levies for.

Q: How would the levies affect property taxes?

A: If approved, tax rates would remain the same. The combined school tax rates would actually decline over the next few years.

Q: What assurances are there that the money will be spent as advertised?

A: "We have an exceptional track record with our capital program," Manhas said. "We have a detailed plan for all the capital projects."

But he warned about pressures on school funding via the Legislature. "Our financing is decided in Olympia," he said. "Our expectations are decided in Olympia."

Q: What would you say to voters who say they don't trust the district after the multimillion-dollar deficit?

A: With capital projects, Seattle Public Schools has done an exceptional job, Manhas said. With the operating budget, the money has all been spent on students, and as soon as the district discovered that it had overspent its 2001-02 budget by $23 million and was headed for another $12 million shortfall the following year, he said, it went to work fixing the problem.

"It has been an amazing turnaround," the superintendent said, noting that the current budget will be balanced and that tightened controls are in place. "We are watching like hawks. ... We are on track."

Q: Are you confident the levies will pass?

A: "This is something the voters have to answer," Manhas said. "I feel Seattle has a great heart as a community for public education."

Q: Will the levies essentially maintain the status quo in terms of programs and services, or will they enable the district to undertake new initiatives?

A: "The levy is basically sustaining the same level that we have," Manhas said.

Because of inflation, in real dollars the levy funding is declining, however.

"The reality is that even with the levy approved, we are going to have (budget) reductions," he said.

Q: Is it typically more difficult to pass capital levies than operating levies, or do voters consider them equally necessary?

A: In Seattle, both types of levies have fared well at the ballot box over the years, Nielsen said.

But Schaad-Lamphere, the current fund-raising chairwoman for Schools First -- the organization that lobbies for Seattle school levies -- said districts across the state have faced challenges passing capital levies.

"We have faced adversity in the past on capital levies," she said. "People want to make sure you understand how to spend capital money and that you'll put it to the best possible use."

Q: What would a levy failure mean for the district?

A: "Disaster," Manhas said. "Just imagine not having one out of every four employees. This is a very serious issue."

Q: People around the district still talk about Seattle's double levy failure of 1975. Are the effects of that failure still felt today?

A: "The boards haven't been erased for 25 years," Manhas said. (Custodians used to erase the blackboards every day after school.) Elementary specialists were cut back and never restored. And the elementary school day was shortened and never restored.

"The landscaping has never been taken care of for 25 years," Manhas said.

"There used to be a day when it was nice to be next door to a Seattle public school, and it's not true anymore."

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