Governor's plan would widen gap between rich and poor schools

The governor released her “Budget Reduction Alternatives” last week. In her cover letter to the members of the state Legislature, she noted that among “the reductions that will likely be included in my November budget proposal” would be: “Reduce levy equalization, which helps property-poor districts.”

That proposal is so wrong it makes one want to join the Occupy movement and take to the streets!

First, a little history. The purpose of the basic education law adopted more than 30 years ago was to assure that each school district’s local levy was not a necessity to ensure its children received a basic education. Obviously that never happened.

Over time, state legislators failed to meet their financial obligations and passed an ever-increasing levy obligation to the voters. The systemic problem with that approach is that in our levy system, taxpayers in property-poor school districts pay a much higher rate of taxes to generate the same resources than do patrons in property-rich districts. Property-rich districts can raise a great deal of revenue with a relatively low tax rate. Property-poor districts must levy a higher tax rate to generate less revenue.

To prevent this great inequity between rich and poor districts, the state provided a fix: “levy equalization assistance” (LEA) to property-poor school districts. That action did not make up for the high property tax rates paid in these poor districts compared with the wealthy districts. But the supplemental state LEA provided one step toward some equity in education resources for children in poor districts.

Now the governor and key legislators propose reducing this funding if they can’t get more revenue? Let’s look at the reality:

In our area, Seattle, Mercer Island and Bellevue are examples of the property-rich school districts. They are able to raise large levies with small tax rates. The current levy rates just for the basic operations levy are $1.28, $1.38 and $1.19 per $1,000 of assessed property value, respectively.

In comparison, property-poor districts in our region such as Federal Way, Tacoma, Clover Park and Franklin Pierce have tax rates of $3.66, $4.08, $3.82 and $3.99 per $1,000 of assessed property value, respectively. Obviously these local residents, without large commercial property value in their districts carry the tax burden on their houses.

Now let’s look what would happen to those districts if levy equalization were eliminated:

 • Seattle, Mercer Island and Bellevue school districts lose nothing. There is no effect.

 • School districts already paying triple the tax rates lose $8 million (Federal Way), $6 million (Tacoma), $7.5 million (Clover Park Schools) and $4 million (Franklin Pierce).

So far, the proposed LEA-reduction alternatives range from 50 to 100 percent. While state leaders acknowledge such alternatives “are very difficult,” none really acknowledge the moral bankruptcy of such proposals.

Every person who is party to these alternatives espouses accountability in schools. They speak loudly about efforts to close the achievement gaps and succeed with every child. Then they consider this approach to take resources from the poorest schools, poorest children and poorest districts, while leaving the richest districts untouched.

To add insult, the Legislature has recently allowed districts to supplement their levies by adding 4 percent additional local taxes if their citizens approve.

Guess which communities were able to take advantage of these supplemental levies and add resources for their children? Yes, the property-rich districts. Having passed a levy in February 2010, Seattle added an additional $48 million to its resources in the November election while increasing tax rates by only 11 cents per year.

I commend Seattle voters for their support for their schools. I just can’t condone the system that provides such inequity and then exacerbates the problems for children in poor districts like Tacoma during these extraordinarily hard times.

Art Jarvis is the superintendent of Tacoma School District.