School levy passes on second try

Relieved school district members celebrate results

The Moses Lake School District levy for maintenance and operations passed on the second try Tuesday, by a margin of 64.57 percent to 35.42 percent.

The levy collects $6,845,291 in 2005 and $7,139,638 in 2006 by means of taxes assessed to property owners. These amounts make up 13 percent of the school district. In March, the levy failed to reach the 60 percent super majority by 28 votes.

Jon Lane, Frontier Middle School assistant principal and city councilman said he was "thrilled" with the results.

"It allows us to do very special things for the kids," he said, "and offer them really essential services."

Among these services, Lane mentioned physical education programs, libraries, counselors, as well as academic and athletic competitions.

"We need to let the community know about the good things their monies are going for," he said.

Councilman Dick Deane said the results display "the respect our community has for our children."

For Deane, the difference between Tuesday's passage and the defeat in March was a more assertive effort by the community, adding that the first time around, people took the levy for granted when they should not have.

"This time, it was a team effort of the community," he said, "to recognize that without education our children are shortchanged and nobody wants that."

Lane agreed, saying people assumed the levy was going to pass on the first try. "Every time you assume something you get surprised," he said.

School board member Vicki Groff said she relieved and pleased with the results.

"I was always confident that the community supported schools," she said. "We just gave them a second chance to do it."

Groff said she was hoping for a little larger margin of victory, while Steve Chestnut, superintendent of Moses Lake schools said he expected the kind of numbers the levy yielded. "We finished around the same (numbers) that we did two years ago," he said. "That is kind of where we expected us to be."

A great deal of responsibility for the passage of the levy, Chestnut said, goes to the committee that was formed to promote the levy among the citizens. P.J. De Benedetti, special assistant to Chestnut agreed, saying that people showed that if the committee does a good job, "they will come out and support the schools."

De Benedetti said the work of the committee included making hundreds of phone calls, putting up signs and ads, and standing on street corners showing their support for the levy.

Chestnut said that now that the levy has passed, the schools can get back to normal, focusing on other projects.

"Our next big project is a long-range facility committee for our school buildings," he said. "Right now every school is full."

Now that the levy has passed, Lane took a moment to reflect on what would have happened if the measure had been defeated for the second time. "It would have been pretty grim," he said. "There would have been some hard decisions to be made. We are fortunate we don't have to do that."