Until this year, the state constitution required school district levies to capture a 60 percent supermajority of yes votes in order to pass. Last November, voters amended the constitution to allow levies to pass with a simple majority – 50 percent of ballots cast plus one more yes vote.

The new rule means maintenance and operation levies in Auburn, Eatonville, Orting and Clover Park have passed, according to unofficial results from the March 11 election.

With approval rates of between 51 percent and 58 percent, they wouldn’t have met the old standard.

The measures, which replace expiring levies, continue local taxpayer support for expenses beyond what the state provides.

The simple-majority requirement is turning out to be “a huge deal” for school districts, said Lisa Macfarlane of the League of Education Voters, which supported the constitutional amendment.

Though supporters felt the amendment’s passage was an important symbolic victory, Macfarlane said, “we also knew it was a practical victory, that there were a lot of these levies that historically took two bounces to pass. It’s turning out to be a bigger practical win than we thought.”

The first test came on the Feb. 19 ballot. Of 111 maintenance and operation levies statewide in that election, only two failed, including the one in North Thurston Public Schools, according to the Office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Of the successful levies, 59 passed with the help of the simple-majority change.

Of 35 school maintenance and operation levies in the state on the March 11 ballot, all but two are passing, according to preliminary election figures. With nearly all absentee ballots counted, 13 of the measures have an approval rate so far of 50 percent to 59 percent.

Dieringer is the only Pierce County district winning approval by more than 60 percent – in this case 60.55 percent.

In comparison, more than 80 percent of school maintenance operation levies won approval under the supermajority requirement in five out of six years from 2000 to 2006.

The constitutional amendment didn’t apply to bond measures, a longer-term property tax typically used to finance school construction. Those measures still require 60 percent approval to win. The Franklin Pierce School District was losing its request for a $78.5 million school construction bond with 53.9 percent approval as of Tuesday.

Several school officials cited economic uncertainty as a key reason that levies weren’t reaching the previous 60 percent benchmark.

“I think people are really nervous about the economy … gas prices … the inflationary impact when you go to the grocery store,” said Orting Superintendent Jeff Davis. “People are concerned here. There’s the whole issue of the housing meltdown.”

Auburn Superintendent Linda Cowan speculated that voter exhaustion might have lowered turnout in her district starting with last November’s general election. In February, Auburn voters considered a presidential primary and a local fire election, and then came last week’s school levy.

She also thinks community members, knowing that the approval threshold was lower, might have thought the levy could pass without their vote.

Clover Park’s citizen campaign was just as intense as that of past campaigns, despite the lower hurdle, said district spokeswoman Kim Prentice.

“The philosophy of people who worked on the campaign from the citizens committee was that we were shooting for 60 percent no matter what,” she said. “We wanted to make sure we did everything in our power to provide enough information so people could make the choice that was appropriate for them.”

White River was among the districts that couldn’t meet the lower threshold. Its technology levy request was failing with a 44.5 percent yes vote.

White River Superintendent Tom Lockyer thinks the loss reflects voters’ anxiety about the economy. They also might have been confused by the voter’s pamphlet describing the election as a maintenance and operations levy, due to a mistake by the district’s legal counsel.

Lockyer said the district decided to seek the levy because of the new simple-majority rule.

“Certainly, we wanted to see if that option would have given us a better opportunity,” he said.

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

How each vote went

Unofficial results

District Issue Yes votes Yes %No votes Result

Auburn Levy 5,686 57.6% 4,180 Passing

Clover Park Levy 4,858 57.3% 3,617 Passing

Dieringer Levy 907 60.5% 591 Passing

Eatonville Levy 1,545 57.7% 1,134 Passing

Franklin Pierce Bond 3,690 53.9 %3,157 Failing*

Orting Levy 1,073 51.7% 1,002 Passing

White River Tech levy 1,636 44.5% 2,040 Failing

* Bond measures require 60 percent to pass.