The state legislature just increased property taxes an average of 17%, a heavy burden that is costing the average homeowner in Seattle $825 more a year, and homeowners in Pierce County $330 more a year (in addition to the thousands we already pay in existing taxes).

The state supreme court said the state funding increase met the requirements of the McCleary ruling, by adding millions to the school budget in most districts.

Now local district officials want even higher taxes. They are pushing voters to pass local tax-increase levies on the February 12th ballot, on top of the new taxes just passed by the state.

Raising taxes again on working families and elderly homeowners doesn’t make sense when we see how much money school officials take now.  Naturally they don’t advertise their spending figures, so here are two official websites that can help.

The first website is, https://fiscal.wa.gov/K12Districts, which reports each school district’s spending (under “Total General Fund Expenditures”), including per-student spending.

The second website is https://www.k12.wa.us/safs/Reports.asp, which provides current 2018-19 spending for schools:  Under “2018-19,” and “F-195 Budget Overview,” page 1 shows total spending, and page 4 shows total K-12 students, so it is simple to divide spending by total students, to get spending per student.

Here’s an example.  In 2012-13 Seattle Public Schools spent $569 million, or $11,980 per student.  In 2018-19 Seattle schools officials are spending almost $1 billion ($955 million), or over $18,000 per student.  That’s a 68% increase in six years.

But school officials want more.  On the February 12th ballot, Seattle Public Schools want a $271 million property tax increase, on top of state funding.  Many people think this kind of greed is unreasonable; even The Seattle Times has recommended a “No” vote. 

Another example is Peninsula School District in Pierce County.  Spending for schools there went from $82 million ($9,495 per student) in 2012-13, to $132 million ($15,192 per student) in 2018-19, a stunning 61% increase.  School officials now want another $198 million because they neglected basic building maintenance.

Many local voters see local school levies as bail-outs for mis-managed school districts.  As they say, providing poor-performing administrators with more money just “feeds the greed” – so in some communities voters may say they’ve had enough.

In any case, the two official-source websites I describe here will help make sure people can make an informed decision.