Reasons to vote NO on the February 11th 2025 school district enrichment levy tax measures in Washington State
We have elevated prices from high inflation and taxpayers/citizens are stretched as it is. This is a financial belt-tightening time.
There should be NO tax measures, at all, on the low-voter turnout, stealth February elections. School districts should have the courtesy of only running their tax measures on the August or November elections. Most WA citizens won’t even receive their property tax bill for the current year until a couple of days after this February election.
Note that renters pay property taxes in their rents. On average about 1 to 1.5 months of rent per year are needed to cover the annual property taxes for each rental unit.
Districts have recently secured hefty compensation increases, exceeding inflation and in fact fueling inflation, for themselves. Property taxpayers have limits. As of 2023-2024, total per pupil expenditures (PPE) per year, including capital outlays and interest on debt, for the districts with enrichment levy tax measures were already at $15,000 to over $50,000 with a median of over $20,000. That is more than tuition at most private K-12 schools in WA and more than tuition at the University of Washington. Perhaps it is time for school vouchers to give families a choice and taxpayers a break.
There should be no "Enrichment" levies in WA. We had the McCleary Decision and its associated higher State School property taxes to fully fund education. WA’s dozen or so public charter schools are prohibited from running levies (or bonds). WA’s 295 traditional public school districts need to learn from the charter schools, play by the same rules, and stay within their means.