School year 2008-2009
Simple Facts on Simple MajorityPlease Vote to Approve 4204 when you fill in your ballot.
The Evergreen Junior High PTSA voted unanimously to endorse the Campaign to Approve 4204, which is on the upcoming November 6th election. What is 4204? 4204 is commonly known as “Simple Majority for Schools”. Its formal name is Engrossed House Join Resolution 4204 (EHJR 4204), and calls for the people to ratify a constitutional amendment on school district tax levies, allowing them to pass with a simple majority of 50% + 1 vote, rather than the current “super majority” of 60% of a minimum number who voted in the previous general election. 4204 is endorsed and supported by an amazing coalition of educators, parents, business leaders, school boards, politicians from both parties and faith communities. There is currently no organized opposition. What are school levies? Levies pay for on-going, fundamental, and essential operational costs in our schools - smaller class sizes, up-to-date textbooks, teacher training, transportation, computers and technology, school building maintenance, and even heat and light. Levy dollars are essential funds for our school districts, and in the Lake Washington School District account for 18.4% of the budget. The “simple majority” proposal will not affect the supermajority required to approve school bonds, which finance long-term capital projects. Levies in the Lake Washington district have such overwhelming parent and taxpayer support that they have historically passed even with a super-majority requirement. But last year, 31 school districts in our state saw their levies fail, even though they had majority approval of 51 - 59%. Since 2000, 168 levies have failed despite majority support. What happens when a levy fails? The impact of a levy failure for a school district – even with almost 59% approval – is immediate and dramatic - deep budget cuts, staff and teacher layoffs, program cuts, and disruptions to our kids’ education. Costly re-votes rob our kids of dollars that could be spent on education, and waste precious time and taxpayer money. Re-runs of levies in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties since 1999, all of which passed with a supermajority on the second try, wasted $1.28 million - vital dollars that could have gone directly to improve our kids’ education.
What must we do? The supermajority levy requirement is a hold-over from the post Depression and World War II era. Supporters of the change label it “unfair” (as stadiums, municipal parks, and prisons can pass with a simple majority), “short-sighted”, and “outdated”. Two thirds of the House and Senate, in an amazing bipartisan resolution, voted to make this change. Now it is our job as voters to ratify this amendment, and make this happen for our kids and our schools. It is essential that we turn out the vote and confirm for our representatives that education is a top priority of voters. Please VOTE on November 6th and please vote to Approve EHJR 4204. More information on the Campaign to Approve 4204 can be found at www.simplybetterschools.org and www.simplemajority2007.org
Alison Shaw EJH PTSA Legislation Chair
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