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Syndicated |
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Supermajority on way out?
Efforts to roll back the requirement for a supermajority vote on school
property tax levies usually surface early in the state legislative
session and this year is no exception. Regardless of one’s personal
opinion on the need for a 60 per cent favorable vote on levy and bonding
issues, this is a subject that deserves public scrutiny. Perhaps this
year’s Legislature will finally put the issue to the state’s voters
in the form of a proposed amendment to the state constitution. To change
the requirement to a simple majority, amazingly, only requires a simple
majority of those voting, possibly as early as the fall of 2005. With the
Democrats in control of both legislative houses and the party
temporarily holding the governor’s office, the chances have never been
better that the issue might garner the two-thirds vote in each house
that is required to send such an amendment to the state’s electorate. Since the 1960s
our Northshore School District has labored under the supermajority
requirement to pass needed operational and capital construction bond
issues. As the calendar nears the halfway of this new decade, we, and
scores of other school districts, continue to rely on property tax
levies for the funds needed to meet minimum, basic operational needs.
Unfortunately, any and all enhancements are now left to the private
sector, generous PTA organizations and such organizations as the
Northshore Public Education Foundation. More than one classroom teacher
has had to dig into his or her pocket for supplies for which there was
no budget or students couldn’t provide on their own. Fortunately,
Northshore has enjoyed tremendous support at the ballot box over the
years. Maybe it’s time to consider re-thinking the subject of
continuing to require such an election super effort to secure a
supermajority. Flash Back: Sidekick
A year ago in this space we told
the heartwarming story how a community of friends helped Thelma Knight
of Bothell’s Westhill find her beloved lost companion, an 11-year-old
Rhodesian Ridgerunner named Sidekick. He had wandered off from her home
on a cold and snowy day while she went into town for coffee and his
regular muffin treat. Ran into Thelma at that coffee spot last week. She
offered the sad news that Sidekick died late last August during
Bothell’s summer heatwave. “He’s been too precious to replace,”
she confided. Flash Back: Afghanistan Another subject
of our Northshore Citizen column, Suzanne Griffin, checked in
from Afghanistan last week. She was the inspiration for a Northshore
community-wide drive in late 2003 in which 12,000 used and new
English-language textbooks were collected and shipped to schools in
Kabul. These became the first modern textbooks seen in that country
since the Taliban first ruled the war torn nation. Suzanne informed
friends here of the deplorable education conditions in Afghanistan when
she returned from two tours with non-government organizations helping
people of the region get back on their feet. Once the word got out, the
books flowed in from a variety of sources. Suzanne is on
an extended leave from her position with the Seattle Community College
system to devote full time to causes in Afghanistan. Now with the
International Medical Corps, she is busy distributing health books to
village leaders throughout the countryside, hoping that this
male-dominated society will actually see that the information gets into
the home. Suzanne is an
extremely brave and very determined woman. In her e-mail outlining the
project, she wrote of being surrounded by 53 villagers – all male of
course: “In my speech (given in Dari), I am asking them to
take the books home to the women of their households and to spend at
least three hours per week teaching them with this book. I am
reminding them that the health of the family depends on the knowledge
that the women have about health. I am also telling them that we
will be back in three months to see how good a job they have done.”
“My surveyors told me that in this village the husbands came to
get the books because their women couldn't come out.”
“We
are surveying and distributing almost 3,000 of these books in Kabul and
Laghman Provinces this winter. We will do follow up surveys in
April and May.” |
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The Previous Columns February
2, 2005 January
19, 2005 January
5, 2005 December
15, 2004 December
1, 2004 Nov.
17, 2004 November
3, 2004 October
20, 2004 October
6, 2004 Sept
15, 2004 Sept.
1, 2004 August
18, 2004 August
4, 2004 July
21, 2004 July
7, 2004 |
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John
B. Hughes |
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Hughes
serves
as grand marshal |
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Hugo
and (425) 482-4076 |
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