M&O levies crucial for local schools

This editorial appears in the Jan. 24, 2010, Yakima Herald-Republic.

If the Legislature did its job, maintenance-and-operations levies for schools wouldn't be necessary.

That, of course, is not the case. In fact, levies are crucial to the fiscal viability of school districts because the state only pays for roughly 80 percent of what's considered basic education, a requirement mandated by the Washington Constitution. To make up the difference, schools have been forced to seek tax levies from district patrons.

For 20 school districts in Central Washington, voters will mark their mail-in ballots during the next two weeks and decide the fate of M&O levies that will pay for salaries, textbooks, extracurricular activities, roof reconstruction, field trips, music programs, computer upgrades, fuel, food services -- the list goes on.

Ballots must be postmarked by Feb. 9.

The levy requests range from two to four years in duration and many have property tax rates that are only slightly higher than the existing levy that's to be replaced.

Though a simple majority is now needed to pass a levy (previously it required 60 percent), it's certainly not the best of times to be asking taxpayers to pay for anything. With the state's and Central Washington's unemployment rate rising each month, as it did again in December, the task of requesting property taxes from cash-strapped residents has only gotten tougher.

Then there's the prospect of additional taxes and fees being approved by state lawmakers as they struggle to fix a $2.6 billion shortfall in expected revenue due to Washington's dwindling sales tax receipts.

Levy equalization funds have also come under scrutiny. These state funds provide equity between property-rich and land-poor school districts. The richer districts can raise far more tax revenues with much lower rates than the land-poor districts.

If lawmakers were to whittle away at these levy equalization funds, every district in Central Washington would suffer. For example, loss of levy equalization funds for the Prosser School District would amount to $1.8 million; for Wapato it would be $3.2 million. These are substantial figures.

To say school district officials are nervous is an understatement.

That's why it's important for voters to approve their respective M&O levies. Failure to do so would mean widespread layoffs among teachers and staff, lost programs, diminished services and larger classrooms -- all of which would harm our children's ability to learn.

Teaching our future civic and business leaders requires everyone to pitch in. For school district patrons, approving the requested levy is a price worth paying.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.