Washington
School districts across Washington see bonds fail despite approval from a majority of voters

After last week”s special election, school districts across Washington are wondering how to move forward after only one-third of the 21 proposed school bonds passed. The rest, even those that were approved by a majority of voters, failed.
This includes all five school bonds that Spokane County voters in various school districts weighed in on. Even though each bond garnered more than 50% of the vote, bond measures require a 60% supermajority to pass.
Reaching that threshold hasn’t usually been an issue for Spokane Public Schools — at least in recent history. Before last week, voters hadn’t turned down an SPS bond proposition in half a century. In the past 20 years, the district successfully passed four bond proposals, raising more than $1.1 billion (which came with an additional $150 million in state-matching funds).
In 2018, SPS asked its voters to approve a $495.3 million bond (it’s largest ask ever) to fund construction of three new middle schools, replacement of three others, updates to some schools’ aging infrastructure and construction of ONE Spokane Stadium in downtown Spokane. Despite rejecting the downtown stadium location in an advisory vote, voters still passed the 2018 bond measure with nearly 70% approval.
This year, SPS asked voters to approve a $200 million bond that would’ve funded replacement of two elementary schools (Adams and Madison) and significant updates to North Central High School. It also would’ve funded the construction planning for future school replacements. Though 56% of voters approved of it, the bond failed — making it the largest district in the state to have a bond fail this year.
The other school bonds on the February ballot in the county were in the Cheney, Deer Park, Riverside and West Valley school districts. Each failed despite garnering between 50% and 54% of the vote.
It’s not a total loss though. All but a few of the school levies on the ballot in Spokane County passed. Tax levies require only simple majority of “yes” votes to pass.
‘DEVASTATING’
“Obviously the results were quite disappointing,” says Beth Nye, principal of Adams Elementary School. “The word I’ve been using is ‘devastating.’”
Adams Elementary was one of the two schools that would have been replaced if this year’s bond had been successful. According to Nye, it’s the last school on the South Hill that hasn’t been modernized or replaced.
As it stands, Adams isn’t compliant with ADA standards because it doesn’t have an elevator. This means students living within the school’s boundaries who are unable to traverse the school’s multiple floors must attend another elementary school.
“We were all looking forward to this bond passing, which would lead us straight into our replacement starting in June,” Nye says. “Now, we’re dealing with that disappointment, and we can hopefully use this as a moment to help [the community] recognize that our schools do need to continue to have these funds so that we can make sure our facilities are kept up and modern for our students.”
All the pre-work for the school’s replacement was completed with funds from the $145 million 2015 bond, according to Ryan Lancaster, the district’s spokesperson.
“We were able to fund through that bond all of the design work and the site planning, so they were pretty much shovel ready,” he says. “That whole project would have gotten off the ground pretty quickly.”
There is about $50 million left over from previous bonds, which Lancaster says will help cover some of the smaller projects that the district had planned. It won’t include any projects at Adams.
“Typically, we go through a process every year where we have a chance to point out some of the smaller projects that we would benefit from,” Nye says. “But because Adams was on the list for a replacement, we were not focused on any smaller projects.”
The SPS board is scheduled to meet this week to discuss options for the district and Adams, Lancaster says.
‘AWFUL AND UNDEMOCRATIC’
Lancaster thinks that the biggest factors in the bond’s failure are the skyrocketing property values alongside the 60% approval threshold that bonds require.
There’s not much that school districts can do to affect these property values, so the focus has been on reducing the supermajority requirement that’s been in place since 1952. Still, there are many hoops to pass through if that’s ever going to change.
“[The supermajority requirement] is a massive barrier, especially since the culture war against public education,” says Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. “It’s frustrating, and I think it’s awful and undemocratic.”
“Obviously the results were quite disappointing. The wordI’ve been using is ‘devastating.’”
If bonds required only a simple majority for approval, all but three of this year’s bond measures in Washington would have passed. Additionally, over the past 10 years, only 45% of school bonds in the state were approved. If the supermajority requirement weren’t in place, 72% of the failed bonds would have passed, meaning about 85% of the total bond asks would have passed, according to Reykdal’s office.
“It’s always important to remember it’s not just local taxpayers’ funding,” Reykdal says. “A lot of state-matching funds won’t be going to these districts now.”
The state matching funds for the 11 school bonds that won more than 50% of the vote but less than the 60% supermajority totaled $227.1 million, Reykdal stated in a release.
Since the supermajority requirement is embedded in the Washington Constitution, a two-thirds majority vote is needed in both chambers of the Legislature to change the law. Then, if the Legislature did approve the change, the measure would go to state voters — with final passage requiring support from a simple majority.
Those who support having a supermajority threshold for school bonds say that lowering this threshold would be unfair to the taxpayers that the requirement is meant to protect.
“Most taxpayers can see a good plan and they can see a bad plan. Sixty percent protects them,” Jeff Daily of Port Orchard, a former South Kitsap School District board member, told legislators earlier this year, according to Crosscut.
Jeff Pack, a representative of Washington Citizens Against Unfair Taxes, also told legislators that they “just want to change the rules to fit your agenda.”
While constitutional changes must clear a relatively high hurdle, they’re not unheard of. In 2007, the state constitution was amended to allow school levies to pass with only a simple majority, rather than the previously required supermajority.
(This year, SPS passed its $300 million levy with about the same amount of voter approval as its bond. Central Valley School District passed both of its levies with about 52% approval, and Mead School District also passed its levy with almost 53% approval.)
That said, a change to school bond requirements looks unlikely this year. Senate Bill 5823, which would reduce the bond requirement to a simple majority, stalled in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, where it died for the session. ♦

Washington
Commanders could trade $68 million disgruntled star

The Washington Commanders have an unhappy star in wide receiver Terry McLaurin.
The former Ohio State wideout has one year remaining on his contract, and he wants a new deal before the start of the season.
Bleacher Report writer Kristopher Knox thinks the Commanders could trade McLaurin to the Arizona Cardinals for pass rusher Zaven Collins if a deal isn’t struck.
READ MORE: Commanders’ Dan Quinn shouts out Capitals coach for major honor
“The Arizona Cardinals might not seem like an obvious candidate for McLaurin because they added their No. 1 receiver when they drafted Marvin Harrison Jr, in 2024,” Knox wrote.
“What the Cardinals don’t have, however, is a top-tier receiver who can complement Harrison and help get more out of quarterback Kyler Murray. McLaurin could be that, and now could be the perfect time to add him.
“Murray and head coach Jonathan Gannon are both entering a pivotal season. Murray hasn’t performed at a Pro Bowl level since 2021 and may need help to get back to the form he had before his 2022 ACL tear. Gannon has delivered just 12 wins in his two seasons at the helm.
“Adding McLaurin could help Murray return to his pre-injury production and, potentially, help Arizona get over .500. To sweeten the pot, the Cardinals could include edge-defender Zaven Collins, who had five sacks last season but could be a potential 2026 cap casualty.
“The Cardinals could save $4.4 million this year by trading Collins, and they’ve added Calais Campbell, Josh Sweat and rookie first-round pick Walter Nolen III to their pass-rushing rotation this offseason.
“Washington could be very interested in a little edge help.”
The Commanders will hope to get a new deal done with McLaurin in the near future.
READ MORE: Commanders coach eyes growth for second-year linebacker
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Washington
Search expands for former Army soldier accused of killing his 3 young daughters in Washington state

SEATTLE — Authorities have closed a wide swath of popular campgrounds and backpacking areas along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington as they search for a former Army soldier wanted in the deaths of his three young daughters.
Dozens of additional law enforcement officers from an array of agencies joined the investigation and search Friday for Travis Caleb Decker, 32, four days after the girls – 9-year-old Paityn Decker, 8-year-old Evelyn Decker and 5-year-old Olivia Decker – were found dead at a remote campsite outside Leavenworth.
The girls’ mother reported them missing the night of May 30 when Decker failed to return them to her home in Wenatchee, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) east of Seattle, after a scheduled visit.
Gov. Bob Ferguson announced Friday night that he was ordering the state’s National Guard to help with the search, saying “we will be providing helicopter transportation for law enforcement as they search in remote areas.”
“The brutal murder of these young children has shocked our state,” he added in a statement on social media. “I’m committed to supporting law enforcement as they seek justice for Paityn, Evelyn and Olivia.”
The Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that there were more than 100 officers involved in the search, which covered rugged terrain in the Cascade Mountains of central Washington, and more than 500 tips had poured in from the public.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have been given notice to, and are working in conjunction with our surrounding counties in the event Mr. Decker moves through the forest into their jurisdiction,” the statement said.
Decker was an infantryman in the Army from March 2013 to July 2021 and deployed to Afghanistan for four months in 2014, according to Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro. From 2014 to 2016, he was an automatic rifleman with the 75th Ranger Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
Last September his ex-wife, Whitney Decker, wrote in a petition to modify their parenting plan that his mental health issues had worsened and that he had become increasingly unstable, often living out of his truck. She sought to restrict him from having overnight visits with the girls until he found housing.
“He has made huge sacrifices to serve our country and loves his girls very much but he has got to get better,” she wrote. “I do not want to keep Travis from the girls at all. … But I cannot have our girls staying in what is essentially a homeless shelter, at times unsupervised, with dozens of strange men, or staying in a tent or living in his truck with him both in extreme temperatures and unknown areas for their safety.”
Authorities warned people to be on the lookout for Decker and asked those with remote homes, cabins or outbuildings to keep them locked, to leave blinds open so law enforcement can see inside and to leave exterior lights on.
It was unclear if Decker was armed, but the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office said he should be considered dangerous. A reward of up to $20,000 was offered for information leading to his arrest.
An online fundraiser for Whitney Decker raised more than $1 million, and friends Amy Edwards, who taught the girls in a theater program called “Short Shakespeareans,” and Mark Belton thanked supporters during a news conference Thursday.

Undated photo of Travis Caleb Decker who the police are asking the public for help in locating the Washington state father who is wanted for murder.
Wenatchee Police Department via AP
“Their laughter, curiosity and spirit left a mark on all of us,” Edwards said. “They were the kind of children that everyone rooted for, looked forward to seeing and held close in their hearts.”
Edwards and Belton said Whitney Decker hopes the tragedy prompts changes to the state’s Amber Alert system as well as improvements in mental health care for veterans. The night the girls were reported missing, Wenatchee police asked the Washington State Patrol to issue an Amber Alert but it declined, saying that as a custody matter without an imminent threat, the case did not meet the criteria for one.
The patrol did issue an “endangered missing person alert” the next day, but those do not result in notifications being sent to mobile phones.
As searches expanded for the girls last weekend, a sheriff’s deputy found Decker’s pickup in the area of Rock Island Campground, northwest of Leavenworth. There were two bloody handprints on the tailgate. The girls’ bodies were discovered down an embankment nearby with evidence that they had been bound with zip ties, according to an affidavit filed in support of murder and kidnapping charges against Decker.
County Coroner Wayne Harris said Friday that his office was awaiting pathology results to determine when and how the girls were killed.
Authorities issued closure notices the previous day for that camping area, which lies in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, as well as for a large swath of rugged territory to the north. That included trails and campgrounds along the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the Canadian border to Mexico, and around Stehekin, at the northern end of Lake Chelan.
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Washington
Washington lottery player hits $7.4 million jackpot. See where the ticket was sold

Biggest Mega Millions win of all-time, Publix grocery store in Florida in 2023
The biggest Mega Millions win of all-time is $1.58 billion, won in Florida in 2023.
Another multimillionaire is born.
One lucky player in Washington state won $7.4 million after hitting the jackpot in the Lotto game, Washington’s Lottery announced in a June 6 news release.
The player, whose name was not released, purchased the ticket at the QFC in Enumclaw at 1009 Monroe Avenue for the May 14, 2025, drawing, the release said.
The retailer gets a selling bonus of $74,000 and intends to donate $20,000 to the Enumclaw Food Bank, according to the release.
“It’s not every day a winning ticket is sold in your store, and our team wanted to do something special,” Brent Stewart, president at QFC, said in the release. “Donating to the Enumclaw Food Bank is the perfect way to live out our purpose to feed the human spirit and help people in our community.”
The win comes after a Mega Millions ticket worth $2 million was sold in Washington for a drawing in April.
What is the Lotto game?
Lotto is a Washington state jackpot game, according to Washington’s Lottery.
The cost of a ticket is $1, and players pick two sets of six numbers between 1 and 49. Alternately, players can have numbers selected for them with the Quick Pick system.
Jackpots start at $1 million and grow until a player hits all six numbers.
Can lottery winners in Washington remain anonymous?
Washington’s Lottery is a public agency subject to the Washington Public Records Act, according to the agency’s website. The names of lottery winners may be revealed through public records requests, even if a trust is established.
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