The National Education Association isn’t just spending its 2007 election dollars in Utah, trying to defeat vouchers. The 3.2 million-member NEA is also at work in the state of Washington, where the country’s largest teachers’ union has spent at least $450,000 to support a state referedum that would make it easier for school districts to pass levies to raise additional property tax revenue for district coffers. You can read more about their support in today’s Seattle Times story.

The state ballot resolution would change the vote margin needed to approve a levy—from the “super-majority” of 60 percent now required, to a simple majority, or 50 percent.

According to media reports, these levies account for about 17 percent of school districts’ budgets in that state. And, since the biggest chunk of a district’s budget is paying the salaries and benefits of teachers, it’s no wonder the NEA sees this election as a worthy investment.