Ferndale voters asked to reconsider school levy — here’s what’s different this time

A school levy defeated in February is back before Ferndale School District voters in the Nov. 3 election, this time at a lower rate and for a shorter period of time.

But voters living in the school district are being asked to reconsider the levy request during an uncertain economy because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the curtailment of Alcoa’s Intalco Works aluminum smelter and the layoff of the smelter’s 700 employees this past summer.

This version of the school programs and operations levy asks voters to approve a lesser rate of $1.50 per thousand of assessed value for two years.

If approved by voters, the owner of a home assessed at $400,000 would pay about $600 a year starting in 2021.

It would bring in about $8.2 million in property taxes for Ferndale schools in 2021 and roughly $8.6 million in 2022.

The levy needs a simple majority to pass. It would replace one ending in 2020, which has a current rate of $2.17 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value — or $868 in property tax money for a home assessed at $400,000.

The school district has about 4,193 students.

Levy history

All seven school districts in Whatcom County asked their voters to approve four-year levies in the Feb. 11 special election. Ferndale’s was the only one in Whatcom County, and among the few in Washington state, to fail.

School officials have said that such local levies are critical to their efforts to educate children and pay for technology, adding that they help bridge the gap between what the state provides for education and what it actually costs.

Local levies also pay for nurses, custodians and paraeducators beyond what the state gives to school districts, according to Ferndale schools information. The money makes it possible for students to participate in extracurricular activities that include athletics and music, and helps pay for programs such as special education, lower class sizes and allows for more elective classes at the high school.

Why did Ferndale’s last levy request fail?

“I’m not sure, especially since Ferndale had previously passed every levy since the 1970s,” Ferndale Superintendent Linda Quinn said to The Bellingham Herald in an email.

Quinn suspected the “no” vote was a combination of three factors:

▪ “Our community had just passed a very large bond measure, and not everyone is clear on the difference between a levy and a bond,” she said, adding that had people wondering, “Didn’t we just give you a lot of money”?

Quinn was referring to the $112-million bond measure that voters approved in February 2019, with $105 million of that going to build a new Ferndale High School.

So in the run-up to the November election, the school district, employees and school board members have been reminding voters that bonds pay for buildings while levies pay for learning.

▪ “During the bond campaign, the levy rate lid was $1.50 per thousand. When school districts all over the state said they couldn’t make ends meet on that amount, the Legislature upped the levy rate lid to $2.50,” Quinn said. “We had campaigned for the bond using the $1.50 projection, but like all the other districts, we needed the $2.50.”

She added: “Some people felt that was contrary to a ‘promise,’ rather than a projection.”

Quinn is referring to state legislative actions around the McCleary decision.

While the state did agree to put more money into education as mandated by the McCleary decision, local levies are still needed.

“This is not a Ferndale thing. This is the way Washington state chooses to fund its education system. Almost every one of the 295 school districts in the state rely on local levies to bridge the gap between what the state funds and what local students need,” Quinn said.

McCleary was a 2012 Washington State Supreme Court ruling that the state was failing in its constitutional duty to fully fund K-12 education.

To meet that mandate, the Legislature increased state property taxes and capped what school districts could ask for in local levies as part of what has been called the “McCleary fix.”

The first cap was at $1.50 per $1,000 in assessed property value. But school districts in Washington state said that put their budgets in the red.

In response, the Legislature lifted that levy cap to $2.50 per $1,000 in assessed value.

Not all were pleased by that decision.

The levy that Ferndale voters turned down Feb. 11 was at the rate of $2.50 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value.

▪ “We had a very active ‘no’ campaign at work in our community,” Quinn said.

She said the Ferndale School Board got the voters’ message.

“The school board listened to the community and lowered the rate,” Quinn said. “In February they asked for $2.50. In this election, they are only asking for $1.50. That’s the amount we need to try to hold on to where we are right now. Another failed levy will mean even deeper cuts.”

After the levy failed, the school district laid off 100 employees to contend with a $6.5 million deficit, the superintendent said.

The district cut $4.2 million and made up the rest using its reserves, Quinn said, adding it had to make those cuts this year because it had to send a balanced budget to the state by Aug. 31.

Levy opposition, support

The levy’s opponents have recommended its approval at the $1.50 rate based on whether students are back in school.

“If school is fully open with normal in-person instruction, we recommend approving the levy at the $1.50 rate promised in the bond campaign. If school is not fully open, we recommend you vote no. Retain your tax dollars to help pay for educating your children at home,” the Responsible Oversight Ferndale Committee wrote in the argument against the measure.

Public schools in Washington state were closed in March and students switched to online learning to slow the spread of COVID-19. School districts in Whatcom County, including Ferndale, are starting to bring their youngest learners and those students with the greatest needs back for in-person learning as they begin their reopening plans.

For Ferndale, that was scheduled to start Monday, Oct. 19.

The committee also referred to the economic challenges in Ferndale saying that it “forced many Ferndale families to tighten their belts and reprioritize their spending. The school district should share our burden.”

In response, Quinn said: “Our teachers and other staff are working harder than they ever have. I recognize parents are having to do more as well, but we still have to pay salaries and other expenses. Distance learning is harder on everyone. It is not, however, cheaper.”

And, she said, the levy going before voters in November was about the future.

“By the time we start collecting on it, I am hopeful our kids will be back in school,” Quinn added. “They will definitely be back by the second year of the levy.”

Turning it down would require deeper cuts that could take years to recover from, Ferndale officials said.

In their arguments for the levy measure going before voters, supporters also mentioned the pandemic’s impact.

“We acknowledge these are difficult times. COVID-19 has flipped every industry on its ear, including schools. Education has been reinvented and now requires different resources, not fewer resources. Our children have missed out on enough,” wrote the group Support Ferndale Schools.

“This levy will provide critical funding as they work through the current situation while ensuring they have quality programs when they return to in-person school,” members said.

Kie Relyea

The Bellingham Herald

360-715-2234

Kie Relyea has been a reporter at The Bellingham Herald since 1997 and currently writes about social services and recreation in Whatcom County. She started her career in 1991 as a reporter and editor in Northern California.