We endorse: Kids in Bethel School District deserve better. Pass the bond

Voters in the Bethel School District have a $443 million dollar bond request on their fall ballots. It’s a jaw-dropping amount until you consider the alternatives.

Fast population growth has put the district in a difficult spot. It hasn’t opened a new school since 2009. To accommodate the steady influx of families in the greater Spanaway-Frederickson-Graham area -- another 3,000 students are expected in the next decade, on top of the 19,647 there now -- Bethel administrators must make tough decisions.

Ideas to combat overcrowding include going back to year-round school, like Bethel had during most of the 1970s, or putting students on two shifts between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

If voters pass the bond request, as they should, what they’ll gain in return are a new high school and two new elementary schools, plus renovations or replacement of six other schools.

Cramming more students into portable buildings isn’t a solution to be proud of. Bethel now has more than 200 portables to meet the needs of “unhoused students.” It plans to buy 16 portables for $10.5 million next year, but space for these structures is running out. Public tolerance for them should be running out, too.

The bond’s biggest hurdle is an obsolete amendment to the state constitution dating to World War II, which requires 60-percent voter support to raise property taxes for school construction bonds. This “supermajority” rule is an equal-opportunity blocker and sends an undemocratic message to families.

A majority of Bethel voters have said “yes” three times in the last two years; they backed a bond package by 54 percent last February, 54.5 percent in April 2016 and 57 percent in February 2016. Any of those should have been good enough. Now the district is taking the unusual step of making another plea to voters on a crowded Nov. 6 ballot.

Convincing enough people that passage is their best interest might be a Herculean task, but the bottom line is that they wouldn’t pay higher property taxes than they do today. The Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer’s office confirms taxes would actually go down.

The calculus includes the expiration of an old bond as well as the benefits of Washington’s new school funding formula. Taxes in property-poor districts like Bethel will drop once the state’s new levy cap goes into effect next year, while affluent districts like those in King County will see property taxes rise.

In spite of its financial challenges, the district has made strides in test scores and achievement. Evergreen Elementary was named a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School, the first school in Pierce County to be thusly recognized since 2004.

But doing more with less is not a recipe for ongoing academic success. The Bethel area can show its commitment to a healthy, thriving community by finally blowing past that daunting supermajority line. Then the Legislature should follow up next year by asking Washington voters to blow up the unjust 60-percent rule for good.

This story was originally published October 23, 2018 at 3:00 PM.