Voters Approve Shoreline School District Levy; Close LFP and Kenmore Council Races
Shoreline School District voters approved a supplemental one-year levy by wide margins in the August 5 primary. Some city council races in Lake Forest Park and Kenmore are close.
Consistent with historic trends, overall voter turnout was low for the August primary, especially for younger voters. According to the Secretary of State, Only 18% of King County voters between the age of 18-24 voted while over 55% of voters over 65 years old returned their ballot.
The certified election results are available on the King County website. Results for the August 5, 2025 Primary Election were certified by King County on August 19. The Secretary of State certifies final results by August 22, 2025.
Shoreline School District Proposition 1
By a wide margin, Shoreline School District voters approved Proposition 1, a one-year supplemental levy, with over 75% of district voters in favor of the levy. Every precinct in the district supported the levy.
The supplemental levy was made possible by a new state law, co-sponsored by local State Representative Cindy Ryu, passed in the 2025 session that allows school districts to ask voters for more money per student.
The one-year levy will collect an additional $7.25 million in 2026 to supplement the current levy and will fund instructional and support staff, staff pay and training, transportation, programs like special education, highly capable, multilingual learner programs, middle and high school athletics, and other extracurricular activities.
Including the new supplemental levy, the total Shoreline School District tax rate for property owners in 2026 will be about $3.13 per $1,000 of assessed property value, down from $3.21 in 2025.
A median-valued home in the district has an assessed value of about $810,000. Doing the math: a median-value home owner will pay about $2,535 in 2026 in property taxes for schools, down from about $2,599 in 2025.
Why are property taxes going down even though voters approved more taxes? The district said taxes will be lower, even with new levies, because old loans are being paid off and new neighbors are sharing the cost. The district is finishing payments on old construction loans. As these big debts are paid down, the amount of money needed for these payments decreases. There's also a lot of new housing being built in the district. This means more homes and property owners are sharing the total cost of school taxes, which helps spread out the financial burden.
The district will likely put new levies on the February 2026 ballot to replace the existing levies set to expire at the end of 2026. If approved, the replacement levies would go into effect in 2027 to maintain funding through 2030.
Close City Council Races in Lake Forest Park and Kenmore
Lake Forest Park incumbent city council member Semra Riddle drew two challengers for Council Position No. 1. Receiving over 47% of the votes, Semra Riddle will advance to the November general election and face challenger Bryce James, who received over 43% of the votes. Victoria Grant received a little over 8% of the votes.
Kenmore city council incumbent Joe Marshall drew two challengers. Marshall received just over 40% of the votes for Kenmore City Council Position No. 2 and will face Planning Commission Chair Tracy Banaszynski in the general election. Banaszynski received close to 42% of the votes, while Caitlin Sullivan took a little more than 17%.