Sunnyside Down

More fuel to the supermajority fire down in Yakima, where Sunnyside fell in that <60%, >50% range and thus failed a bond to buy new bleachers. From the Yakima Herald-Republic:

SUNNYSIDE -- School board members here are facing the possibility of not having bleachers for this year's graduation following the defeat of a $1.95 million bond issue Tuesday.

Had the proposal passed, the 40-year-old Sunnyside High School grandstand would have been replaced and the school's auditorium would have been improved. Now, there's a chance programs could be cut to pay for new bleachers. And there's the possibility visitors at this year's graduation ceremony will have to sit on folding chairs, board member Lorenzo Garza said.

"It's a safety issue," he said. "So we're faced with a dilemma. � We're not sure we'll have something up as a replacement by the next graduation."

A new count Wednesday showed yes votes ahead 1,407 to 1,181, or 54 percent. But that's still far short of the 60 percent needed under the state's "supermajority" law.

The newest edition of This Week in Olympia says that a supermajority bill has passed the House, and if Senator Brown can work some magic in the Senate, maybe it has a shot to get to the point where the voters can decide.

Update: You can also add Warden, Yakima, and South Kitsap to the list of districts that failed measures because they didn't reach the supermajority.