Can someone who knows more about election law than I do explain why tiny little ballots like this can't be rolled into a bigger election? As far as I'm concerned, there should be no more than two votes a year... a primary and the general election in Nov. Having extra tiny little votes like this has got to be expensive, and reduce participation.

Vote NO on both!

I am sending in my ballot blank. I cannot continue to subsidize the rest of the state while they deny us funding for basic services, forcing us to tax ourselves more.

I'm voting NO to Seattle Schools and YES to Seattle School Repairs. The state needs to get it's act together and get state funding approved at the state level instead of passing the costs to the tax payer at the local level through property tax hikes like this one.

Now let's do the math. The current property tax assessment in Seattle is $9.27 per every $1,000. If the value of your home is $450K, you're currently playing $4,171.50 per year in property taxes. If you add on the additional taxes if they can get past the voters, then the property tax assessment rate will increase to $11.13 per every $1,000. The same homeowner is now paying $5,008.50 a year on property taxes. That's an increase of $837 compared to the previous year.

So let's put things in perspective. If you're that home owner with a home that's worth $450,000 and paying $2,128/month in mortgage (not taking into account the downpayment), you might be paying an additional $1,575/year on home insurance (131.25/month). If you add the new proposed property taxes and imagine that you're allowed to pay it off in monthly payments, then that's $417.38/month. Now if you take the monthly total of everything, then that same homeowner is now paying $2,676.63/month. I'm considering that the person is a single person (ex gay man like myself) paying their own mortgage.

#1, to answer your question, well, you answered the question.

"Having extra tiny little votes like this has got to be expensive, and reduce participation."

The district pays about $1M for have the election at this time. They could spend a lot less and be on the primary or general ballots but then they would have to compete for attention against many other initiatives.

Plus, as you point out, fewer people vote in Feb. so they are much more likely to get the most "yes" votes (those who feel very invested in schools like parents, teachers, construction people, etc.) The district does have to get a certain percentage of what the November election vote count was but given how low it was, that's not much of an issue.

I love The Stranger's more potty-mouth version of "it's for the kids" but there are a couple of issues.

One, the district wouldn't really need the Operations money so much if the damn legislature would fully-fund education via McCleary. But no. They are content to sit back and see what the Supreme Court will do (and I predict the Court will act swiftly after the session ends.) So yes, the district really does need the Operations money.

As for the capital levy, BTA IV, again, they need the money, both for repairs AND capacity management. But I find myself troubled, time and again, at how little actual preventative maintenance the district does and then has to pay more down the line.

Seattle Public Schools spend more per pupil that Bellevue, Issaquah, Lake Washington (north of Bellevue). Outcomes by any measure, are worse.

Well, sure, you're kind of right. But let's compare the demographics of how many homeless, low-income and at-risk kids you have in each district (I'll wait.) Right, so that's why. Does Seattle need to do better? Yes, it does but you are talking 3,000 homeless kids (out of nearly 53,000 students) in Seattle schools. That's just homeless kids.

I ask this all the time when people like to complain about "how the money is spent." Okay, what do YOU think they should spend the money on versus what they do spend the money on?

Voted NO to both. The only way to get the state to face the funding problem is to have the schools fail. It's time to take the non-functioning government off the tax welfare wagon.

@4 "Seattle Public Schools spend more per pupil that Bellevue, Issaquah, Lake Washington (north of Bellevue). Outcomes by any measure, are worse."

It's almost like school districts almost entirely bereft of poor people do better than school districts that do have a substantial percentage of poor people. Or that things in Seattle are more expensive than things in the 'burbs.

The levy is not a renewal. While there is an expiring levy, the one being proposed exceeds the funding of the previous, making this a new levy, not a renewal of the old one. It was bad enough when The Stranger allowed guest editorialists to lie about this, but to see The Stranger itself actively support this borderline gaslighting makes me wonder how far this once esteemed institution has fallen.

You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I voted yes on the capital budget because I always do, and NO NO NO on the other. Everyone knows you don't fund ongoing costs like salaries with levies. They're general fund costs and the legislature should cover them.