Move to end the 'tyranny of the minority' fails

Last month the state Senate defeated a bill that, if approved, would have placed a referendum on the November general election ballot asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment allowing a simple majority vote to pass local school district construction bonds levies.

The failure of the state Senate to pass Joint Resolution 8201 compounds the ongoing and convoluted business of keeping schools operational for administrators.

The state law that remains on the books requires a so-called “supermajority” of school district voters — 60 percent — to pass general obligation and construction bond levies for school construction projects throughout the state.

But even with a supermajority vote there is an additional condition to be met: that supermajority vote must be made by at least 40 percent of voters who cast a ballot in the previous general election.

It’s a rigid system.

“Bonds are hard to pass — we get close to that 60 percent but with us needing to build in the future, we know we’re going to need more schools,” Cheney School Board member Suzanne Dolle, said.

Dolle also serves as the board’s legislative representative to Olympia legislators.

The Cheney School District tried twice to pass a capital facilities bond measure to renovate and expand the high school. Two measures in 2015 failed to gain the needed 60 percent supermajority for passage. Voters finally approved a $52 million bond in February 2017 with just over 61 percent voting in favor.

Medical Lake Superintendent Tim Ames wasn’t too concerned about a bond vote in the Medical Lake School District — at least for now; Medical Lake is in good shape for the foreseeable future, he said.

School construction projects typically involve funding from the state, which require local districts to provide matching funds in the form of long-term obligation bonds.

It’s up to local voters to approve bonds for those matching funds. No local bond approval, no state funding.

The state doesn’t just pony-up construction money, however. They keep tabs on individual school district maintenance practices.

Obtaining state funds for school construction is a convoluted process that’s typically years in the making, according to Ames.

“You start the process early,” Ames said, noting Medical Lake is about “10 years out from a bond.”

Part of that early process begins with good stewardship of school buildings and facilities. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction requires school districts to submit an annual building assessment, called a Site Condition Rating Summary, that rate the condition of school roadways, structures, water and sewer systems, and other amenities.

This report in-part serves as justification for state capital improvement funding.

“You have to take care of your buildings — you have to do this assessment to demonstrate that you’ve done everything you can to maintain your buildings and they’re in good condition,” Ames said.

While he wasn’t sure if he would be around for a bond vote when the time came — his retirement window is around 5-7 years, he said — it will likely be up to his successor to convince voters of the benefit of approving a school construction bond.

Ames holds out hope for a state constitutional change allowing a simple majority vote for school bonds. Even a compromise on the supermajority issue — somewhere between the current 60 percent threshold and a simple majority of 50 percent — would be good for Medical Lake, a community that has historically supported local education issues.

“We would love 55 percent because a lot of them would pass,” Ames said.

He noted that the narrow difference between 50 or 55 percent and 60 percent is small, a tyranny of the minority.

“You’re being held back by a small percentage” of voters, Ames said.

Cheney Superintendent Rob Roettger agreed, noting that school districts are pushing for a lower passing percentage because a bond can fail even if the majority of residents support it.

“Fifty-five percent is still more than a simple majority,” he said.

He felt that reaching 60 percent was a challenging threshold.

“Getting to that 60 percent is difficult,” Roettger said.

A supermajority keeps many rural school districts in decaying buildings with tight quarters.

“There are districts that haven’t passed a bond in 30 years,” Dolle said. “I can see both sides of the issue, but when you’re running out of room, you’re running out of room.”

And Cheney is definitely running out of room. The district’s enrollment has skyrocketed in recent years, and newly renovated schools intended to serve the district’s student population through 2028 are already filling up.

The Cheney School Board recently finalized redrawn attendance boundary lines to balance enrollment in schools district wide.

Still, like Ames, Roettger noted that similar bills to lower the passing percentage “gain more traction every year.”

Until the Legislature decides to allow voters to decide for themselves if construction bonds should be passed by a smaller supermajority, or a simple majority of voters, that 5 to 10 percent margin of minority voters will remain a barrier to passage of local school construction bond measures, no matter how popular they might be to the rest of voters.

“A majority win doesn’t really count in construction,” Ames said.

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected]. Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].