8 May 2019 — 1335 mdt

Kalispell’s voters kill $1.2 million high school levy

Yesterday, Billings passed a school levy for the first time in 12 years. Helena approved a levy by a 60–40 margin. But in the Flathead, the $1.2 million operating levy for Kalispell was rejected by over a thousand votes:

In Helena, 34 percent of registered voters cast ballots. I was not able to find turnout data for Billings.

Why did Kalispell’s levy fail? In part, I suspect, it went down because no good case was made for it. I received an expensive four-color, four-page, brochure from some entity — there was no return address, no “Paid for” information — that failed to disclose exactly how much money would be spent for what (example: $250k for new chemistry and physics textbooks). Its message boiled down to “We do good things, so give us the money. Trust us.” It was propaganda, and it enraged me. I doubt I was alone in my reaction.