Change the world. Change our schools.

The preliminary results from Tuesday’s elections are out, and come as another pat on the back for 4204 (Simple Majority) supporters.  Most of the 47 levies are passing—more than a third thanks to simple majority—while the 13 bonds are faring less well.

It’s encouraging to see approval rates above 60 percent for half of the levy elections, but it’s even more rewarding to know an additional 66,000+ children will benefit from the passage of Simple Majority last November.

Here are the preliminary results, as of today, separated by approval rate to highlight the impact of Simple Majority:

A number of bonds are close to the required 60 percent supermajority approval rates. Both failing King County bonds (Renton and Snoqualmie Valley) are within 3 percentage points. Another three bonds (Woodland, Snohomish and Ferndale) are failing with 55+ percent approval.  If bonds needed simple majority approval rather than supermajority (60 percent), all but one of the bonds would be passing—impacting almost 54,000 kids.

As Bonnie noted in her blog posting after the February 19^th election, everyone involved with passing 4204 can sit back and smile. Your work continues to change the lives of kids across our state.

Asking a 50-something person who doesn’t “blog” (and until recently didn’t know what one was) to write one seems awfully risky. But the younger, hipper LEVitators assigned me a topic they knew I would bite on–tomorrow’s school levy elections. The reality is that I got infected by the school levy virus back in 1996 when Seattle failed its operating levy, and I have been fairly obsessed with wanting to help other districts pass their funding measures ever since. One example is our Levy Library. Check it out and be sure to send us samples from your last campaign.

It is a strange system we have in Washington, where existing operating levies for schools have to be re-approved by local voters every few years. Until recently, those renewal levies needed an undemocratic supermajority of 60 percent to pass. After the passage of “simple majority” last fall, school districts all across the state are breathing easier. But hopefully school districts are not getting lazy and taking their voters for granted. They still need to get voters’ permission to just keep up the current level of spending, much less ask for more, and they have to prove that they are spending tax dollars wisely.

Bonds have always been tougher sells and they still need 60 percent approval to pass.

• 13 districts have a bond measure on tomorrow’s ballot
• 12 districts have a capital levy
• 35 school districts have operating levies up for renewal

One district (Renton) has all three.

Here is the link to the complete list.

These last few hours before the vote counts come in are nerve wracking. You wonder whether you have done everything possible to remind your voters what is at stake. But the decision–including the important one about whether enough people will even bother to mail in a ballot or show up to cast a vote–is out of your hands.

One thing is for certain. Every vote counts. Remember our over-time simple majority win. Schools are unfortunately used to winning and losing these ballot measures by just a handful of votes. I am just hoping that voters all over the state do the right thing tomorrow and say yes to investing in kids and schools.

Posted by Bonnie, 2/22/08

After what turned into a somewhat depressing Election Night last November, I spent two days accepting that we had lost Simple Majority.  Few dislike losing as much as I do - but when a loss has a direct negative effect on one million students, it is especially hard.

I think it was on the fourth day that things began to change.  I remember sitting at my computer at 4 p.m. waiting patiently for Pierce, Snohomish and King counties to update their vote totals. By 4:15 p.m. suddenly we were winning - and man did it feel fantastic. I never thought I could match the excitement I felt that afternoon. I was wrong.

This past Tuesday, 127 school levies were up for election statewide. But this time it was very different. The levy elections are now like the majority of elections we have, needing 50 percent plus one to pass rather than the old, unfair supermajority requirement. The results are pretty incredible. As of today, 122 of these levies are passing.

Here are the results separated by approval rate to show how the results might have looked under the old supermajority requirement:

As you can see, it would have been an entirely different story under the old barrier. An additional 53.5 percent of school levies statewide would have failed. Even more compelling, this group of 68 levies adds up to more than $485 million.  Almost $500 million to help school districts reduce class size, increase professional development for teachers, and purchase new text books … the list goes on.

I admit there were moments during the campaign when I got tired. I phone banked nearly every night for a month straight with a dedicated group of staff and volunteers. We all had moments of exhaustion, but we kept going. Now we see why - and we will continue to see our efforts pay off in future elections. It took a huge amount of collective hard work to pass Simple Majority and we should all feel proud. So, if you talked to a neighbor, picked up the phone, wrote a check, or simply voted to APPROVE 4204, ­- this is your moment to sit back and smile. Your work is changing the lives of one million students statewide.

Thank you!

Posted by Michael

Hundreds of school levy volunteers are breathing a sigh of relief today.

Last night’s levy results show that the education community’s victory in November is making a huge difference for thousands of students across the state.

While many communities continue to approve their levies at rates above the old 60 percent standard, a large number of levies passed thanks to the new 50 percent simple majority requirement.

School leaders, educators, parents and students in places like Kennewick, Ellensburg, and Centralia will not have to brace themselves for a costly and time consuming second levy attempt.  Instead, they can continue to focus on educating students.

We’ll be holding our breath for close elections around the state, especially in Thurston County where the North Thurston, Rochester and Yelm school districts are hovering just below 50 percent.  Late-arriving ballots do tend to favor school levy elections.

For bond elections, the supermajority requirement continues to thwart our schools.  Only two out of five bond proposals are passing as of Tuesday night.  In Lake Chelan, the bond is passing with just over 61 percent.  This shows that every vote is especially important for school bond elections.

While simple majority saved the day for many school districts, the League of Education Voters is confident school supporters will not take this election for granted. 

And we’ve not lost sight on what’s at stake.

A large part of the success of our state’s students and schools comes from levy funding.  That’s because the state continues to NOT fully fund basic education services.

The League of Education Voters would like to see a new K-12 finance system adopted next year that fully funds basic education and returns levies to their intended purpose of funding school enrichment programs.