Voters' trust in schools may decide levy vote

Of the five computers shared by her 30 students at Denny Middle School, only three work. A quirky school heating system means wearing coats in her classroom, while classes across the hall are toasty.


	See details on the Seattle schools levies (86K PDF)

Seattle taxpayers will vote Feb. 3 on a $178 million capital levy that would pay for almost 700 projects at schools around the district, from new athletic fields to renovated libraries, and a $338 million operating levy that represents 23 percent of the district's annual budget. Both are renewals of earlier levies.

For the levies to pass, state law requires a 60 percent supermajority yes vote, and turnout for the levy vote must be at least 40 percent of the total turnout in last November's general election.

Levy organizers are predicting a turnout of about 120,000 voters, which would require 72,000 yes votes for the levies to pass. City voters have consistently supported education levies for decades, and Saxon hopes the pattern will continue.

"If the (operating) levy were to fail, a quarter of the teachers could be laid off," she said. "That's more kids getting even a smaller percentage of the teacher's time and individual help than they do in the first place. I don't think I would go to another district but, boy, it would be tough to be teaching here."

Saxon's concerns are not unfounded.

Longtime district employees still speak about a levy failure in 1975, when voters turned down a $53 million operations levy, scaled back from a $59 million proposal defeated the previous year.

About 1,130 Seattle teachers were laid off in subsequent cuts and though many were eventually rehired, the failure caused lasting effects, including a shortened elementary school day.

Voters also turned down an operating levy -- which pays for basics such as instructional programs, transportation and building maintenance -- in 1996, but passed it on a second try a month later.


		Dan DeLong / P-I
	Bailey Gatzert Elementary teachers Kristina Wendorf, left, and Amy Griffith work the phones to ask voters to renew two levies for Seattle Public Schools.

The late Superintendent John Stanford was "devastated and incensed" at voters' initial rejection of the levy, recalled John Vacchiery, the district's director of facilities planning and enrollment. "He could not imagine why anybody in their right minds would deny education to students."

The specter of another levy failure was raised following the announcement in October 2002 that the district had overspent its budget by $23 million and had to make another $12 million worth of cuts to avoid a further shortfall.

The district closed last year's budget in the black, but some, including Saxon, worry that the financial crisis is still recent enough to draw out the naysayers on election day.

"I do hear people asking, 'How can we trust the Seattle School District when they overspent that money?' " she said. "What I worry about is that the people who do have those feelings are going to be vocal on voting day. They're going to get out there and vote against the levies."

Seattle resident Robert Jackson said he plans to register his opposition on Feb. 3, but not because of the district's financial problems. Jackson, who is Native American, has supported past levies but said he's frustrated over the district's lack of progress in closing the achievement gap between white and minority students, despite numerous committees struck to study the issue over the past two decades.

Pointing to the dropout rate of 49 percent among American Indian students in the district's Class of 2002, Jackson asked: "How long do we continue to fail more students? Perhaps it's time for a time deadline for Seattle Public Schools. I think it'll be a wake-up call."

Queen Anne resident Eric Page thinks the wake-up call has already come. The financial debacle "makes me more in favor of the levies, because schools are more beleaguered," he said.

Page is optimistic that the revamped School Board -- with four newcomers sworn in last month -- will be a responsible steward of public funds.

"I kind of think with the new troops it's a good thing to get a positive vote, pass the levy and let them run with the ball," he said.

Ann Goos is hoping most voters agree. The campaign manager for Schools First, the organization that campaigns for Seattle's school levies, Goos said she's heard no opposition to the levies, organized or otherwise. On the contrary, she described the group's Jan. 10 campaign launch as the best kickoff she's ever been involved in.

"When you've got that energy and that support and that commitment, it makes me think as a campaign manager, yeah, now we've got mojo," she said at the campaign's South Lake Union headquarters, three days after the rally.

Still, Goos is realistic. After the 1996 levy failure, "The mothers and fathers of Schools First knew that they could never again let this city take for granted that 'Oh, these things always pass.' No, they don't always pass," she said. "I think that as a public school support, when you don't keep that energy and momentum going, you rue the day."

At the Schools First campaign headquarters in donated space that previously housed Trick & Murray office supplies, parents, teachers, students and principals work the phone lines five nights a week, explaining the importance of the levies to voters.

Despite some hefty donations, including $30,000 from Boeing and $15,000 from Washington Mutual, the original campaign budget of $360,000 to $390,000 has been scaled back by a tight economy, requiring Goos and her two staff members to become increasingly resourceful.

They cut back on costly direct mail, using purchased and donated e-mail lists to reach voters. They're partnering with churches and labor groups, providing them with sample newsletter entries and promotional signs. They've ramped up the phone campaign and the Schools First Web site, where supporters can download graphics to make car signs.

The campaign is as grass-roots as they come, said Goos, a former teacher who's taking a leave of absence from her position as director of environmental affairs for the Washington Forest Protection Association.

"I don't see very many campaigns that get the types of volunteers we get," she said.

"It's not a sexy, fun thing. This is your stuff like new roofs. This is making sure you have good mechanical systems. This is your basic modernity, necessary systems that we have to invest in. We have to."

The operations levy pays for items such as class-size reductions, full-day kindergarten, bilingual education services, programs for at-risk students, school security, custodial support, special education services and salaries for counselors, librarians and instructional assistants.

The capital levy is broken into three main categories. The $95.5 million buildings allotment covers items including roof replacements, air quality and other mechanical systems, playgrounds, furniture, exterior renovations and safety improvements.

Almost $43 million for technology would be used to replace computers, install servers, revamp library systems and expand the district's student information systems.

Close to $40 million would pay for items including high school improvements, child care upgrades and improvements to libraries, science facilities, auditoriums and art and music rooms.

Neither of the levies would construct new schools.

Campaign fund-raising Chairwoman Barbara Schaad-Lamphere, a Seattle School Board member before giving up her seat in the fall, said polling late last year appeared to indicate clear voter support for the levies. "I feel very confident that the voters understand the difference between a change in leadership at the top and how important it is to continue to fund schools so that we can stay on track," she said.

Goos said strong levy approvals would send a clear message to Olympia. "This is half a billion dollars of funding for a big, big entity that touches the lives of everybody in the city," she said. "I would love to see Seattle win, and win big. This is a very important levy as a statement around school funding and our commitment to kids."