OLYMPIA, Wash. — Proposed legislation heard in a state senate committee Thursday would reduce the approval threshold needed to pass school bond measures and fund construction projects.
Under the Washington State Constitution, capital bond measures must get the support of at least 60% of voters to be approved.
If passed, Senate Bill 5186 and Senate Joint Resolution 8200, would amend the constitution in order to lower that threshold to 55% for school districts.
“With the 60-percent right now, it’s an unachievable goal for many of our districts,” said State Senator Deb Krishnadasan (D-Gig Harbor).
Krishnadasan and State Senator Adrian Cortes (D-Battle Ground) are the driving forces behind the effort.
“We’re investing in our future, we’re investing in our kids,” Krishnadasan said. “Our school districts are failing in terms of providing high quality buildings to help our kids compete in the global economy.”
At a Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee hearing Thursday, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction testified in support of the measures, saying that out of 14 bond measures this past November, only four passed. OSPI staff said that number would’ve gone up to nine if the approval threshold was at 55%.
“So, five more of those bonds would’ve passed, that would’ve been $1 billion more in funding for these school facilities,” said Mikhail Cherniske with OSPI.
School officials from across the state told senators they have struggled to improve facilities to meet growing student populations. They said proposed bonds have fallen slightly short of the 60% supermajority, forcing them to spend more money to rerun the bonds in later elections.
“We have over hundreds of buildings throughout the state that are over a hundred years old,” testified West Valley School District Superintendent Kyle Rydell. “We all know, there’s new codes, there’s new requirements, we fall into categories where schools are just not as efficient as they should be.”
“Our community has tried twice in the past two years to pass bonds for our field, but both attempts failed,” said Eatonville School District student Bailey Andersen. “Without that support, we lack the facilities that many other schools take for granted. When our football team made it to the state playoffs, we couldn’t host the games at home because our fields weren’t good enough.”
Many school officials said they would prefer a simple majority to pass bonds, similar to levies, but Krishnadasan said that could make getting the amendment approved more challenging.
Opponents to lowering the threshold told senators they are concerned about increasing property taxes and the accountability of school spending.
“There should be efforts to make it harder to raise taxes, there should be efforts to actually lower property taxes,” said initiative activist Tim Eyman. “I cannot emphasize enough the visceral opposition there is to higher property taxes.”
Krishnadasan acknowledged bonds could have an impact on property taxes, but they would have a lower impact compared to a levy since they are paid over a 20–30-year period.
“By not lowering this 60% threshold, it’s forcing school districts to run 50% capital levies,” the senator said. “And those levies are collected over a four- or five-year period, and the tax implications to taxpayers are incredibly higher than if you were to run a 55% bond.”
For the threshold to be lowered, Senate Bill 5186 must pass through the legislature and Senate Joint Resolution would need a two-thirds majority vote from both the senate and the house in order to pose the constitutional amendment to voters. Then a simple majority would need to approve that amendment at the next general election.
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