WA fines Kennewick schools for violating law with ‘emotionally driven’ advertising

A Washington agency has found that the Kennewick School District violated state law during the Feb. 14 special election by publishing information that “implied support” for a $72 million operations levy.

The Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) also found that the frequency and extent to which the district communicated about the levy was greater than normal when compared to communications about other school issues.

The school district has paid a $600 civil penalty and the superintendent has signed a statement of understanding to resolve the matter.

“This is an important ruling because it sends a message to school districts throughout the state of Washington: There is a limit to what you can do. It’s not an open book,” said John Trumbo, an open government activist who also separately serves on the Kennewick City Council.

School Superintendent Traci Pierce said the district did not intend to break the law and that the administration works diligently each election cycle to follow the election guidelines and laws as outlined by the PDC, the agency that interprets and enforces state campaign finance and disclosure laws.

“What we did was in good faith and with all intention and belief that we were meeting all the PDC guidelines,” Pierce told the Tri-City Herald.

The district has previously said that the purpose of its informational materials was only to “give the general public adequate information so they can make an informed decision when voting.”

Double levy failure

Voters had twice rejected operations levies proposed by the Kennewick School District in 2022 when they came back in February 2023 to ask a third time.

The district’s previous operations levy had lapsed, meaning more than $34 million in local funding for security, nurses, sports programs and special education was no longer available.

The district used reserve money and COVID relief funds to avoid sharp cuts to staff or programs that year.

Voters overwhelmingly passed this most recent levy with 56% approval.

“It’s unfortunate that the voters can’t have a redo on something like this because KSD pushed hard to get this passed and they broke the law doing so,” Trumbo said.

Washington state law allows school districts to make objective and fair representations of the facts related to a ballot proposition, but it also prohibits the use of taxpayer-funded facilities to promote or oppose such measures.

PDC investigators found that the district’s communications contained language that promoted passage of the levy in advertisements, mailers, website and on its social media platforms, and that the district provided levy information at a higher rate than normal.

Some of the language highlighted by the PDC include:

• “Their educational future is in your hands. The question is, what kind of school experience do we want Kennewick kids to have?”

• “They deserve safe and secure schools...”

• “Is making schools safer important to you?”

• Phrases such as “drastic cuts,” “significant impacts,” “quality educational programs,” and “critical needs” were examples of emotionally driven language, the PDC says.

“These examples, rather than communicate facts about the levy, convey support for the ballot proposition by Kennewick SD,” a PDC compliance officer wrote.

“In many instances, these words were spoken in videos or in recorded audio and were accompanied by music that compounded the emotional feel of the sentiment and reduced the neutrality of the message. Much of this language creates an impression of dire consequences should the levy fail and is not neutral. And many of the statements are speculative about the possible secondary or tertiary impacts of the 2023 levy,” the officer continued.

The PDC also recommended the district exercise caution when using social media, digital ads and storytelling to ensure they’re “factual, fair, objective and free of statements of support, emotional appeals, opinions and other promotional or persuasive content.”

Ongoing PDC dialogue

Pierce said she believes Kennewick’s methods of communicating proposition information are “pretty standard” with what other school districts across Washington state are doing.

In terms of the frequency of distributing that information, Pierce said they’re fulfilling the community’s appetite to know about what school propositions and measure are running during special elections.

The PDC has asked district communications professionals with the Washington School Public Relations Association to present to them about their communication methods. The Kennewick superintendent is unsure if this dialogue will lead to changes in guidance.

Pierce said the PDC’s current guidelines have focused on regulating mediums that are not as important or as effective as they had been in recent years. For example, mailers have become less of a focal point for school districts.

“Our methods of communication have changed greatly over the years. We rely much more on social media, digital communications than ever before,” Pierce said. “And so, we want to ensure that the PDC has a good understanding of the regular and normal ways the districts communicate in all sorts of things, and what those implications are on ballot measures.”

Trumbo said he was “not impressed” with the civil fine because he believes the amount of taxpayer resources used in Kennewick’s information campaign vastly exceeded that amount.

The district bought 500 radio spots and 1,313 television spots across 11 different stations in the 43 days leading up to the February special election, and made 19 unique posts, some including videos, about the levy on their social media accounts.

He believes lawmakers need to provide “stronger, more clarifying language” about what language is considered objective and fair.