Voters say no to school levies

Voters turned down two local school levy proposals by a hefty margin yesterday.

Grand Coulee Dam School District’s Proposition 1 appeared to fail by about 58 to 42 percent, with 570 voters selecting No on their ballots, 418 selecting Yes across the four counties the district serves.

Proposition 2 was also voted down 538-413, about 57% no to 43% yes.

“We got hammered bad,” Superintendent Paul Turner said, noting only the Pateros district appeared close to have a close vote at about 50-50 last night. All others were failing in Okanogan County.

Five of six districts seeking levies in that county were failing.

In Grant County, the story was brighter for schools. Of eight other districts asking for levies to pass, only two were failing, in Odessa and Wahluke.

In Lincoln County, six other school districts passed their levies.

Failure of the Grand Coulee Dam School District levies — one for capital projects and one to maintain programs and services — means district leaders will have to reassess operations.

“It’s not what I wanted, but there it is,” Turner said Tuesday night. “We’ll regroup tomorrow.”