I’m voting yes on school bond
By purchasing a home on Mercer Island, did we not buy into a communal vision that it is our privilege and duty to maintain what makes our neighborhoods so desirable? When I was a public high school student in Queens, New York, I took the Ephebic Oath to leave my city not less, but greater than I found it. Let us please not make matters any more challenging for our school district by failing this bond.
Our school district has had to cope with a state budget regression in public school funding since 2018 simultaneously with property taxing changes resulting in much less money staying local to support our own schools. Given legal caps on local levies, those who argue that critical capital improvements can be addressed with levy funds alone should consider that the dollar amount of money our district is able to source from property taxes has decreased substantially from 2017 to 2024 when adjusted for inflation. For more information, please reference Superintendent Fred Rundle’s webinar from Jan. 9, 2025, at https://www.mercerislandschools.org/news/~board/misd-news/post/watch-misd-budget-community-webinar-on-2024-25-budget-and-enrollment
Our property values rise and fall with the desirability of our schools — let me reiterate that we would not in a million years have purchased in 2023 the $2 million-plus complete fixer upper to renovate while living in it, had it not been for these amazing schools. Even in a town as affluent as ours, Mercer Island schools are so desirable that our private schooling rate is no higher than King County’s. My family is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful small island community that believes a great educational experience is the greatest gift we can bestow upon our children. I am so emboldened and imbued with hope to see Superintendent Rundle along with countless other tireless advocates waving “Vote Yes” signs on our streets.
Sara Jordan, Mercer Island
From CMIPS to our Mercer Island neighbors
Mercer Island neighbors, have you ever wondered who is behind the cute schoolhouse signs around town?
Well, it’s us! The Committee for Mercer Island Public Schools (CMIPS) was established with a mission to educate Islanders about school bonds and levies on the ballot. CMIPS is a political committee comprised of volunteer citizens — all Mercer Island neighbors advocating for funding for our local public schools. CMIPS is separate from the public schools and PTAs and is not funded by taxpayer dollars. MISD provides the facts about the Bond measure. CMIPS is an advocate for voting yes.
But who is CMIPS? We are MISD alumni, parents, and students, we are multi-generational Islander families, we are PTA leaders, we are teachers and school board members, we are MISF and MIYFS Foundation board members. We are all Mercer Island taxpayers and believe in investing in the quality education Mercer Island schools provide — and we are all proud to name ourselves as working toward this worthy cause.
Some of us have lived our entire lives on Mercer Island, while others only recently call our Island home. The group is united with one cause: to support the health and well-being of our Mercer Island schools.
We have an ask, Mercer Island. Educate yourselves and vote! Get the facts at www.yesmischools.org and the MISD website, and make sure to mail in or drop off your ballots early.
Reach out to us if you’d like to join us, add your name to the endorsement list, or simply have questions about the bond you don’t want to ask in a public forum (we don’t blame you).
The Committee for Mercer Island Public Schools 2025: Meghan Banta, Kristen Bullington, Bob and Julie Day, Leslie Ferrell, Jennifer Flood, Kimberly Florence, Kimberly Frank, Jordan Friedman, Courtney Hampson, Julie Hsieh, Yen-Ling Lee, Lesley Malakoti, Kathy Moffett McDonald, Laura Oberto, Samantha Rubenfield, Frank Schott, Helen Weyant, Ruka Wolf, Emily and Stephen Yu.
Two things can be true: Vote yes on school bond
1. You can be frustrated with the school board or district leadership on certain issues AND still believe that all public-school students deserve to learn in safe, modern, temperature-controlled buildings.
2. You can choose a private school for your own child or be an empty-nester AND still want to invest in and maintain the high-quality public-school buildings that make Mercer Island one of the most desirable real estate markets in the region.
3. You can be disappointed that this bond does not include updates to elementary schools AND still appreciate that a diverse committee of 30 experts and community members spent over two years developing the right plan for right now that is about the same cost as the 2014 bond.
4. You can be confused about whether the tax impact is 40% (misleading / guesstimate math) or 7% (accurate analysis / real math) AND still recognize that Mercer Island’s property taxes for schools are already the lowest on the Eastside—and will remain so, even with this bond.
5. You can have doubts about whether this is the “perfect” bond AND still vote YES, because delaying action will only make future solutions more expensive—and you trust the work of the civic mind-experts who brought this plan forward.
Perfection is not a prerequisite for progress. Let’s not let our students pay the price of delay and inaction. Remember what this ask is truly about: Bonds are for buildings. Thank you, Islanders, for supporting our schools and our students by voting yes.
Kathy Moffett McDonald, Mercer Island
Vote yes to invest in our schools
By now all of you should have received your ballots for our school bonds. I trust you’ll take the time to vote, and I hope you’ll vote yes.
I think we all know how important education is for our kids and the high quality of education our neighbor kids get on Mercer Island. I think we also know that the reputation of our schools creates demand for young families to want to move to Mercer Island (just as my parents did in the ‘60s and our son and his family in the 2020s) and the importance in maintaining the investment we’ve made in our real estate. This dynamic also creates a virtuous cycle of re-investment in Island real estate, keeping our community healthy.
What is less understood is how we finance schools in Washington State. We don’t control operations funding locally; the state’s constitution directs the state to fund “basic educations” and the legislature has capped local districts to limit local funding. While we have some ability to add to the state’s funding for operations, it is very limited.
The Seattle Times reported that Washington State invests 3.17% of our GDP for public education, less than the nationwide average of 3.53%. The good news is that our spending is “equalized,” meaning every district gets relatively equal funding. This is not true generally across the country and districts like Mercer Island across the country often fund schools at two to two and a half times what Washington State allows.
I learned this when I served on our school board and when as I legislator I helped write the 2009 Education Reform Act, the basis of the McCleary decision which forced the legislature to increase funding to our below average 3.17%. In other states, districts like Mercer Island fund their schools at the level the elite regional private schools are funded at because they are permitted to set funding locally. We can’t.
This means the capital levy we’re voting on this month is the place we still have flexibility. By voting for these bonds, we invest in making sure we have safe, effective and efficient facilities for our teachers and students.
We can’t fund our schools like similar communities in other states can. It’s not legal in Washington State. But we can make sure the facilities permit us to get the most out of our operating budget.
Vote yes.
Fred Jarrett, Mercer Island
School bond: How much is it going to cost me?
The signs are confusing, and I hope to provide some information to allow Islanders to calculate the school bond’s impact on their own household.
The school bond’s property rate is not in dispute: 0.45, or $450 per $1M of assessed property value. The median assessed value on Mercer Island in 2025 is $2,036,000. $450 x $2.036 = $916 increase to the median household.
To calculate the impact for your own house or condo:
Property Tax Increase = (Tax-Assessed Property Value) $450 / $1,000,000. If, like most of us, you pay your property taxes with your monthly mortgage, divide by 12 to see the impact to your monthly mortgage payment. This translates to a 7% increase to your total property tax. In 2025, the total property tax bill for the median assessed home of $2,036,000 is $13,323. $916 / $13,323 = 7%
If you look at just local school taxes, or the 21.3% of the 2025 property tax bill that goes directly to MISD via voter-approved bonds and levies, the increase is 32% The MISD portion of the median tax bill in 2025 is $2,839. $916 / $2,839 = 32%
Where did 40% come from?
These signs, prolific as they may be on MI, are intentionally shocking and misleading. The 40% calculation starts with only the portion of our tax bill that goes directly to MISD – but is also predicated on modeling assumptions that did not prove out to be true AND attributes property value assessment growth to the bond itself. The bond and assessment growth are mutually exclusive, and while one is known, the other is an assumption.
Mercer Island, I have 2 asks: Do your own math and vote.
Laura Oberto, Mercer Island
