Mostly, we don't take great notice of school finance and bond levies (other than our own), because often the issues involved are local and not very indicative of wider trends.
But. In the context of the economic downtowns, and passage of two statewide tax measures in Oregon, and widespread assumptions (weakly based, in our view) that the country has turned anti-tax, the latest election news out of Washington state merits some attention:
In the Seattle Times: "Voters were showing their support for most area school districts, with partial returns from Tuesday's special election favoring passage of billions of dollars in levy and bond measures to operate, maintain and build schools. According to unofficial results released shortly after 8 p.m., ballot measures in 20 of 23 King and Snohomish County school districts were winning approval, although some by very narrow margins."
In a comment on this at the Horse's Ass blog: "I did a quick look at election results around the state last night, and most levies were being passed by wide margins, even in very conservative counties in Eastern Washington. Coupled with the results from OR a few weeks ago and the defeat of 1033 last year and populist voter anger over bailouts of big banks, maybe it is time for our elected leaders to look at the creation of a progressive income tax in WA."