Who Are These Folks Saying Vote No on the Levy?

Many of you around town--indeed, around Spokane County--received flyers in the mail yesterday encouraging you to "Vote NO, Reject New Taxes" when considering the local school levy. If you didn't get one, you can see the Medical Lake version here. Some facts for your consideration:

Who are these guys?

They call themselves Citizens for Responsible Taxation, and they're based in Spokane. That tells you nothing--the real fun is that, since they're engaged in politics in Washington State, they have to register with the Public Disclosure Commission and reveal who their donors are. You might remember that around this time last year they were organizing against the levy elections in Mead and Central Valley.

So, who are they really?

According to the PDC, there isn't really a they, it's a he: Elvin "Duane" Alton, who last year donated $32,150 to Citizens for Responsible Taxation. That's 98% of their operating budget.

Wait a minute.....that Duane Alton?

One and the same. Grandma Alton's baby boy, neighbors helping neighbors, "We merged with Tire Rama!"--that's the guy. He also recently spent $6,300 trying to buy a school board seat in Spokane, so he's got an obvious interest in education. Right now, he's got an interest in making sure our kids don't get one.

What about the facts presented in the mailer?

The headline number, $3,390,000? You get that by reading the levy resolution the school board passed and adding up what the three year total would be. The mailer doesn't tell you that's a three year number; it's very intentionally designed to make you think that the MLSD wants to raise your taxes $3 million dollars plus next year.

The numbers at the bottom are similarly misleading; when they say that the cost to you on a $150,000 home is $895 dollars, that's really only $298 a year in local property taxes, or $25 a month. This is the classic lie of omission, and the rest of the flyer needs to be seen in that light.

OK, that's where they got their numbers from--what about the rest of the flyer?

"$3.39 MILLION IN EXCESS NEW TAXES!" is a lie--this is a replacement levy. The levy committee had a very frank discussion and took in a ton of input on the question about whether to run the levy at a higher amount, and they decided not to. This is not a new tax, at all.

"Did you know that YOUR TAX $$$'s already fund 100% of our children's education without requiring excess tax levies??? Why pay more???"---Is there anyone out there who really believes this? When our libraries have been cut in half, when there is no more elementary art, when we've had to tolerate reduction after reduction, do you as someone who works in the schools feel like our schools are being funded at 100%? When we just had the State Supreme Court affirm, essentially unanimously, that the state isn't living up to it's duty to provide basic education, isn't it a little silly for them to make the argument that 100% of our children's education is being funded?

Any other missing facts?

The biggest one--levy equalization. The reason they call it levy equalization is because it takes the levy you pass locally and puts more state money into it--if there's no local levy, there's no state matching. If we lost the levy, we'd also lose the $1.5 million a year in levy equalization. If that were to happen, I don't know that the District could continue on as a going concern.

So what now?

First we recognize that this hit was paid for by people with an agenda, people who don't live in the Medical Lake School District, and then we push it aside the same way we would the opinion of someone who says to you, "You know, your kid is kind of ugly."

After that, we communicate. Please tell your neighbors about the good work that we're doing in Medical Lake. If you live outside the district, take a look at the levy for your local school (almost everyone in the county is running a levy in February), and vote your conscience.

With thanks,

--Ryan--

On the School Levy

PLEASE NOTE: Canvassing was last Saturday, January 21st. Thank you to everyone who was able to participate!

Valentine's Day is going to be critical for most every school district in the county this year, as that's also election day. THANK YOU to everyone who signed up to donate to Citizens for Medical Lake Schools on a continuing basis, as well as those of you who made one-time donations to the levy committee. Every bit helps and is appreciated!

This Saturday at 10:00 we'll be gathering at Denny's to do some door-knocking around town. It's an easy time--assuming there's not two feet of snow, anyhow--and anything we can do to help get the message out will help the cause. If you're able to attend, please let your building principal know, or you can email me at medicallakeea@earthlink.net

What's the Deal With Our Dues Going Up?

About once or twice a year I get an email asking about the monthly dues, and I'm frankly surprised it's not a question I get more often--at better than $65 a month for a full-time employee, it's a pretty good chunk out of your salary every cycle.

I wrote back in September about what the monthly breakdown is for a full time person, but there's another perspective I'd like to offer as well--a comparison of what the yearly local dues are between us and other districts in the area. Remember, the MLEA portion of your dues is $60 a year:

Spokane: $248
West Valley: $204
East Valley: $191.40
Cheney: $216.96
Central Valley: $183.46
Mead: $272.00
Deer Park: $192
Nine Mile Falls: $120
Pullman: $90
Colville: $132
Riverside: $240
Moses Lake: $226.80
Freeman: $114.84
Grand Coulee: $120
Garfield-Palouse: $120
Liberty: $120
Newport: $84

The $60 that we charge is equal to what members pay in Republic, Ritzville, Nespelem, or Northwest Columbia, but ahead of Reardan ($36) or Davenport ($24).

We've worked really hard to keep the local portion of your dues low; we're not overly litigious, we keep our stipends meaningful but affordable, and we still provide the three $500 scholarships a year to Dollars for Scholars to assist our MLHS graduates in their post-secondary pursuits. With our declining enrollment and the concomitant decrease in the number of members our Association budget has gotten a little tighter every year, but we still have a very healthy reserve that would cover any emergencies that might come up.

If you have any questions about your dues money--where it goes and what it's used for--feel free to email or give me a call on my cell phone.

--Ryan--

WEA-Eastern Workshop on Maternity and Paternity Benefits

For those of you who have recently expanded your family, or are thinking of having children, this workshop to be held at the WEA-Eastern office on March 5th should help you with any questions you have about leave, insurance, and all the other administrative things that go along with pregnancy. It'll also be useful for the gentlemen who may want to access paternity leave.

WEA-Eastern will pay for milage.

What You Need to Know About................Election 2012

The Education Votes website from the National Education Association is updated frequently with perspectives on the 2012 races. If you're interested in national politics, it's a fun place to spend some time!

The WEA on Charter Schools

This video gets to the heart of the WEA objection to charter school legislation here in Washington State; it's only a couple of minutes, and well worth your time.

Some Political Op-Eds for Your Reading Pleasure

The first was written by Represenative Susan Fagan of the 9th LD, regarding levy equalization; she's a great friend of the district and someone with a lot of passion about education issues. You can read it here.

Another good read comes from Rep. Joel Kretz of the 7th, which includes Fairchild and everything up to the Canadian border; you can find it here. Rep. Kretz was instrumental in beating back an attack on levy equalization a few years back, and that's meant millions of dollars for Medical Lake.