School tax measure's advocates declare victory

Campaign managers for a measure that would make it easier to pass school levies declared victory Wednesday, though the measure was passing by only a slim margin.

Joint House Resolution 4204, aimed at eliminating the 60 percent supermajority required to approve special levies for school districts, was favored by just 50.4 percent at the end of Wednesday. It was leading by about 11,000 votes.

That's a significant upswing overall for supporters of the measure, which had the support of only about 46 percent of the tallied votes at the end of Election Day last week.

But as votes continue to be counted, the resolution has seen a swell of approval, and supporters think the measure still will be passing after the remaining 41,000 votes are counted -- about half of which are from King County.

"Every day since the election, it's been trending up, so we aren't really worried," said Kelly Munn with the state Parent-Teacher Association.

State Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, said the measure's success shows which issues voters really care about. "Tuesday night was a tough night for taxes," he said. "This shows that the people have one priority in this state -- it's education."

A large part of the measure's support comes from King County, and the measure was passing in only eight other counties Wednesday evening, including Thurston, Spokane, Snohomish and Whitman. The measure's core group of supporters shrugged off the lack of support in more rural counties, saying it reflects traditional voting patterns.

Supporters have campaigned on the platform of fairness -- a supermajority isn't required for other ballot items, they pointed out. The measure would remove unfair hurdles to districts at risk of losing programs, supporters said.

But opponents said it would raise property taxes without helping education, and it could give the Legislature an excuse to shift the burden of funding education to voters.