Reminder: levy ballots due Tuesday

Eight Thurston County school districts have important tax levies on Tuesday’s special-election ballot. All of the districts’ operations levies – for North Thurston, Olympia, Tumwater, Yelm, Tenino, Rainier, Rochester and Griffin schools – are worthy of support. We recommend a yes vote.

These property tax requests, if approved, would replace existing levies that expire this year.

That is why all of the four-year replacement levies are essential to continue school operations without disruptive layoffs affecting the next school year.

Eventually state support from the Legislature can replace the portion of levies that pays for basic education costs.

But state lawmakers continue to move like cold molasses toward full-funding of K-12 schools.

As a result, that day of full funding won’t likely arrive for a few years, as we noted in previous editorials.

Olympia and Yelm also have bond proposals on their ballots, each of which need a 60 percent supermajority of votes to pass. Both bonds measures are reasonable requests.

The deadline for returning ballots is 8 p.m. Tuesday evening. That means a ballot must be in one of the county’s two dozen ballot drop boxes by that hour, or a mailed ballot must be postmarked by 8.

Please remember to vote and to vote yes.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Reminder: levy ballots due Tuesday."