Electric Fishwrap

Only Anacortes bond is failing

By KATE MARTIN

Skagit Valley Herald staff writer

The tide turned again Monday in favor of school district levies that saw support lagging last week, as the latest vote counts now show every school district levy in Skagit County is passing.

The two that had fallen behind were the Sedro-Woolley School District’s maintenance-and-operations levy and a technology levy proposed by Mount Vernon School District.

As of Monday, Sedro-Woolley’s levy was passing with 51.2 percent of the vote. Mount Vernon’s technology levy, which aims to update computers and other equipment, was carrying 50.3 percent.

There are another 1,250 votes left to count in the Sedro-Woolley district, according to the county elections office. Countwide, 3,000 ballots remain to be counted, the office said.

“It’s still too close to be comfortable,” Sedro-Woolley School Board President Jim Kallio said this morning. “This is a big problem. Our teacher contracts have to be renewed by the 15th of May, so we have to know before the 15th of May whether a levy passes or not.”

The district is not taking chances. Kallio said the board will hold an April election should this levy fail.

The district depends on maintenance and operations levies for 16 percent of its budget. Salaries comprise 80 percent of the budget, Kallio said.

“It’s just a contingency plan if the numbers do turn around and it doesn’t pass,” he said. “If it doesn’t pass, we have to lay people off. We just need to know what’s going on so we can make staffing decisions.”

Skagit County school levy “yes” votes surged ahead during a Monday ballot count, while the Anacortes School District’s $62.9 million school construction bond issue continued to fall behind.

Most school district levies that were close or failing are now passing by a margin of a few hundred votes. Sedro-Woolley’s school levy, which at one time was 17 votes behind, was ahead by 149 votes as of Monday afternoon.

Levy elections now require a simple majority to pass, after voters removed the supermajority requirement of 60 percent last fall.

Kallio said he doesn’t like asking the public for money every two or three years to fund basic district operations.

“Levies years and years ago paid for extra things, and now they don’t,” he said. “Now it pays for education because the state hasn’t kept up the funding for basic education.”

Youngquist said the rest of the county’s votes should be counted and posted on the county Web site at www.skagitcounty.net by this afternoon. Official certified results will come by March 5.

Originally published Feb. 26, 2008.