Tacoma school district is violating the law by promoting upcoming levies

The Tacoma school district has two replacement measures on the February ballot, and administrators have been very vocal about telling everyone. They have devoted space on the TPS website, placed placards at the entrance of every school, and printed brochures touting the absolute necessity of these levies. Soon, we can expect the district to use it’s robocall system to tell its large captive audience (the parents and guardians of its almost 30,000 students) all about the benefits of the levies, as they did with the bond measures in February 2024. Principals will send out recorded messages to the families at their schools expounding on the importance of the levies, and they’ll end their messages with “be sure to vote!”

Though they always stop short of telling people to “vote yes” on the measures, in effect the district is promoting and encouraging people to vote yes. And that is illegal!

Washington school districts are governed by state campaign‑finance law. RCW 42.17A.555 makes it illegal for “any public office or agency” to use its facilities (including websites, publications, computers, office staff or equipment) “for the purpose of assisting a campaign … or for the promotion of or opposition to any ballot proposition”.

The Public Disclosure Commission’s “Guidelines for School Districts in Election Campaigns” explains that district computers, email systems, telephones and websites must not be used to aid a campaign or to “generate or forward information that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure”.

The district’s write‑up titled “Two replacement measures to support all TPS students to go on February ballot” has the effect of supporting these ballot measures. It begins by noting that Prop 1 would fund the district’s operations (including teachers, para educators, librarians, custodians…totaling about 500 staff) and that the Technology Improvements and Upgrades levy would fund technology access for all K‑12.

Although these statements are mostly factual, the story’s framing quickly shifts from information to promotion. For example, the article repeatedly emphasizes how the measures would “support Tacoma’s kids by ensuring students from every background … have access to high‑quality education,” and claims that “our entire community benefits” from passing the levies. It cites graduation‑rate statistics and tells readers that community “investment” through levies contributed to those successes.

The district’s communications about these levies is not only lopsided and illegal, but also blatantly misleading. It leads with the claim that teachers will be impacted. The wording makes it sound as though all or most of our teachers get paid from the levy. The truth is that teacher salaries are are mostly funded by the State. Levies pay for a very small part of teachers’ salaries.

And even if teachers had to take a pay cut, that wouldn’t be bad. In 2019, According to Washington Policy Center, “Average teacher pay and benefits in Washington public schools was just under $119,000 a year. For comparison, the average wage in Washington state in 2019 was a little over $56,600.”

If those numbers are accurate, teachers make more than double the average wage in Washington, and all of that with three months of the year off. The nice salaries would be understandable if we were getting our money’s worth. However, “Academic outcomes for students are flat or declining, nearly one-third of public school students drop out before completing high school, and the racial achievement gap among students is wider than ever. None of the promises made to gain political support for public education funding have come true” (Washington Policy Center).

Washington funding for education has skyrocketed over the past ten years, but test scores have stayed flat on the ground.

The remainder of the district’s write-up is a list of programs, services and upgrades that the levies would fund—teachers, nurses, textbooks, arts and athletics, facility repairs, technology devices, fire‑alarm systems and so on—followed by a cost summary that characterizes the tax impact as about $36 more per month for the educational‑program levy and $11 more per month for the technology.

It not only describes what the levies would fund but also frames them as vital to “supporting all TPS students.” It also credits past levies for higher graduation rates and community benefits. Nowhere does it present potential drawbacks or acknowledge that taxpayers might see higher property‑tax bills; instead it focuses exclusively on positive outcomes.

While there is no explicit “vote yes” directive, the repeated emphasis on benefits reads more like persuasive messaging than a neutral fact sheet. Given the PDC’s guidance that public resources should not be used to promote ballot measures and that any communications must be objective, TPS’s communications appear to skirt that boundary by advocating the levies’ merits rather than simply informing voters about the measures and their costs.

You won’t likely be seeing any “against statement” in the voter’s pamphlet this time. On December 12, the Pierce County Auditor posted a call for volunteers to provide an “against” statement stating that “the districts did not appoint against committee members to prepare statements for the local voters’ pamphlet.” The deadline to request a committee member appointment was December 16 at noon, less than 4 days later. The public had less than four days to volunteer to write an against statement. If anyone did volunteer, they would have to waive anonymity. That’s a dangerous proposition in radical left territory. Challenging education is tantamount to sacrilege.

Nevertheless, at the risk of being a heretic and burning at the stake of equity and justice, the bottom line is that the district is shady. It has too much money and is doing a poor job. It’s wasting taxpayer dollars by illegally printing materials that support the passage of prop 1 and prop 2. The district needs to do a better job with the money it has. Like the Washington Policy Center says, “Adding more money to the current public education system will not improve learning outcomes for students, reduce the drop-out rate or close the long-standing achievement gap. Instead, greater structural reforms, a focus on core learning, higher academic standards and increased learning alternatives and parent choice are clearly indicated.”

This February, vote NO. It’s time we stop overpaying for an education system that isn’t willing to play by the rules and that constantly comes to the taxpayer asking for more money. Hold them accountable.

Vote NO.

P.S.

Prior to the February 2024 vote on a new bond measure (Prop 1), publicly reported analysis estimated that existing bond schedules would require over $1 billion in existing bond payments through 2045, and the proposed new $650 million bond would add approximately $1 billion more in total tax costs including interest.

https://www.kvi.com/2024/02/15/tacoma-voters-approve-650m-annual-bond-measure-to-fix-11-public-schools/