(The Center Square) – Supporters of lowering the threshold for passing a school bond measure will try again in the upcoming legislative session in Washington.
According to Education Week, Washington is one of 10 states in the country that require greater than 50% approval to pass school bonds.
Bonds provide funding for capital projects, including the purchase of property for a new school, the construction of buildings, or the modernization of existing schools. Bonds are sold to investors and repaid with interest over time from local property tax collections.
School levies only require a simple majority for passage. In Washington, most levy dollars are spent on staff compensation.
Bonds require a supermajority – 60% – to pass and require voter turnout of at least 40% of the voters who cast a ballot in the last general election.
Six other states also require 60% approval for school bond measures, while Idaho requires two-thirds approval for passage.
Because of the higher threshold, many districts have a tough time getting bond measures approved, often putting them before voters multiple times over several years without success.
Democrats have wanted the bond passage threshold dropped to 50%, as many districts can get support from a simple majority of voters, as opposed to the more difficult supermajority threshold.
For example, on the Nov. 5 ballot, Issaquah voters were asked to approve a $642.3 million School Modernization and Construction Bond. About 50.08% of voters approved the measure, short of the 60% required for passage.
Last month, voters in the overcrowded Sumner Bonney-Lake School District approved a $732 million bond measure, with 64.02% of voters saying yes to Proposition 1. This is the largest bond measure approval in the state. Of the 14 bonds statewide, only four school districts passed.
As reported by The Center Square, during the 2024 legislative session, Rep. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, sponsored a compromise measure to lower the threshold for approval of a school bond from 60% to 55%.
“The Evergreen School Board passed in 2018 a $695 million bond,” Harri said during a House Education Committee hearing in January. “We have beautiful schools in the Evergreen School District. Impeccable. [The Stevenson-Carson School District] still has lead-based paint in their schools, they have a heating system that doesn’t work, and they have no air conditioning. The disparity is huge.”
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, co-sponsored the 2024 bill.
“I became a teacher because I believe in public education as the equalizer of inequities in our society and in a way to make sure every child has an opportunity to have the strongest footing possible,” she said during the hearing.
The bill did not make it out of committee, but Stonier isn’t giving up, pre-filing legislation in the form of House Bill 1032 for the upcoming session. HB 1032 would amend the state constitution to allow passage of school bonds with a simple majority of just over 50%.
Opponents of lowering the threshold argue burdening taxpayers with multi-decade bond obligations should be a heavy lift.
“We’re asking voters to pay for a school bond for 20 to 30 years,” argued Senate Minority Leader John Braun, R-Centralia. “It’s a long-term commitment. The answer is not to change the standard. The answer is to build a better case for the voters.”
The 2025 legislative session begins on Jan. 13.
