Sultan School Board member led bond opposition campaign

Sultan is well-known for its lively elections, and the Sultan School District's failed $47.7 million school bond measure was no different.

As signs sprang up around town encouraging voters to vote yes, a number of opposition signs were also positioned. An anti-bond website was created, advising voters to "do your homework.GÇ¥ The signs and the website were coordinated and funded by Sultan School Board member Ed Husmann, who actively campaigned against the bond. Other Sultan residents, including Kay and Ray George and Al Wirta, also opposed the bond and supported Husmann's efforts.

According to election results certified on Friday, Feb. 19, the bond failed with a 43.51 percent approval rate. Bond measures require a 60 percent majority to pass.

Husmann was first elected to the Sultan School District Board of Directors in 2011, and was reelected in 2015; both times unopposed. Husmann was the only school board member who voted against moving forward with the bond. He said he felt the entire process was too hasty, held too little regard for in-depth analysis and skirted an appropriate level of public participation.

One of Husmann's main objections, he said, was that there wasn't comprehensive discussion at the board level. A school bond committee made up of parents, teachers, district staff and city leaders developed the recommended project list for the bond, after conducting an inventory process that extended through the spring and summer of 2015.

On the same night the bond proposal was presented to the board during a study session in January, the board voted to place the measure on the Feb. 9 ballot.

"I think the board failed to do what a board's there for; is to review and sift through it and look at it, and see if it was really something that we needed to do,GÇ¥ Husmann said.

For $47 million, he said, one would think the board of directors would have had several meetings specifically devoted to studying the bond measure, but that wasn't the case.

The lack of board involvement wasn't Husmann's only issue. He objected to the proposal for an $11 million performing arts center at Sultan High School, and thought the way the information was presented was misleading. At roughly 25 percent of the bond measure, Husmann felt the performing arts center should have been front and center in the literature produced by the school district, rather than buried in the list of projects.

"Twenty-five percent of the $47 million is for a performing arts center, and it should been on the front page,GÇ¥ Husmann said. "But they talked about the overcrowding at the high school, which is not even really addressed.GÇ¥

Husmann said he did not feel a bond was the appropriate method for obtaining the funding, and the district should have looked at other funding sources, such as a supplemental levy.

"My position is this bond is the improper financial vehicle to use,GÇ¥ Husmann said. "It shouldn't have been a bond; no bond is necessary.GÇ¥-á

A school bond is similar to a home loan; it is borrowed money that must be paid back with interest. Bond funding allows school districts to address capital needs, such as new classrooms and facilities, and can be used for major renovations and upgrades. School bonds are commonly financed over a 20-year period and rely on projected cost estimates.-á A bond measure ran in 2016 might include a new building slated for construction in 2018, so the measure would estimate what that building would cost to build two years in the future.

Sultan's bond issue was proposed to run for 25 years.

Levies are much shorter term ' typically four years, but can be shorter or longer ' and are collected annually with property taxes just like a bond. The additional tax is used to raise extra funds for the district over the lifespan of the levy; the district does not borrow the money up front. By implementing a four-year, $6 million project-specific supplemental levy, Husmann said the district would be able to bank the money away, and at the end of the four years, fund the project with cash.

The statement "bonds are for building; levies are for learningGÇ¥ is commonly used to differentiate between bonds and levies, however, levies can also be used to fund capital projects.

Importantly, Husmann said the use of levies allows funding without interest payments. According to Husmann, a $47 million bond measure spread out over 25 years would equate to around $100 million when all was said and done, due to $53 million in interest payments.

"That's the point nobody was talking about,GÇ¥ Husmann said.

Husmann said another issue with the bond was that it placed a disproportionate share of the burden on senior property owners residing in the Sultan School District. The Sultan School District encompasses Sultan and Gold Bar, extending north of Index and west of Sultan, all the way to Woods Creek Road near Monroe. The impact on those residents would have been detrimental, Husmann said.

Husmann said Sultan School District residents with high-value real estate are generally in the senior age bracket.

"They're the people on fixed incomes,GÇ¥ he said. "The reason they can stay where they're staying is because it's paid for, but the asset value is still on the books and it keeps going up every year. As those assessments go up, these people on fixed incomes don't have anything going up. In fact, it's going down.GÇ¥

The bond's proposed $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed value would have been a huge hit, he said.

"Those kind of things in this rural community are a huge impact,GÇ¥ Husmann said.

And finally, Husmann said he felt bond proponents failed to demonstrate how the bond would help the district create better quality students. His own inspiration to run for the school board was shaped by an experience he had while raising two of his grandsons, who lived with Husmann and his wife, Roxanne, for seven years. The boys' other grandmother was fond of sending money, and Husmann required them to send her a thank you card before he would give them the funds.

He was surprised to find they couldn't address the envelope.

"They had no idea how to get an envelope into the mail so it would reach their grandmother, and they're 4.0 students,GÇ¥ Husmann said. "That's why I joined the board.GÇ¥

Husmann is hopeful the failure of the bond will spur the conversation, investigation and analysis that he feels should have occurred the first time around. He wants to examine other funding alternatives, such as impact fees, grants and other partnerships. He hopes the board will play a more integral role in the process, and that the effects on the residents will be more closely looked at.

"I really fault the board more than any other group in this whole issue, and I'm on the board,GÇ¥ Husmann said. "The board didn't do its job.GÇ¥