The three-year, $23.1 million measure would pay for basic instructional services.
With ballots to be mailed this week, volunteers are trying to garner support for a three-year, $23.1 million school levy that backers say is vital to the sustenance of Bainbridge schools.
“This is a very critical levy,” said Linda Smith-Walsh, co-chair of the levy campaign committee. “It’s important that people understand this is not a new tax, but a renewal of the existing levy that goes toward basic educational needs.”
To help spread its message, the committee created a website and this week mailed pamphlets to voters explaining how the levy works.
Because state and federal funding is limited, local levy money accounts for roughly 20 percent of the district’s operating budget.
The money pays for teacher salaries, supplies, extracurricular activities and transportation.
Bainbridge schools are near the bottom of the state when it comes to per-pupil funding, receiving less than any other Kitsap County school district.
The levy differs from bonds or special technology levies like those that passed last year because state law prevents those funds from being used for day-to-day expenses.
The new levy would cost property owners about $1.21 per $1,000 of their home’s valuation, or about $633 per year. The current levy rate is $1.31 per $1,000. Though fluctuations in local property values impact the rate of the tax, the district collects only the fixed dollar amount approved by voters. The goal is to collect the maximum amount allowed by the local levy lid, set by state law at 24.98 percent of the district’s state and federal revenues.
The new levy would raise $7.2 million in the first year, $7.7 million in 2009 and $8.2 million in 2010, and would take effect Jan. 1, 2008, the day after the current levy expires.
Walsh said the committee, co-chaired by former Bainbridge schools assistant superintendent Bruce Colley, has met several times in recent weeks to prepare for the Feb. 6 vote.
“If groups want us to do presentations, we will,” Colley said, adding that the committee has already spoken with several parent-teacher organizations. “Bainbridge Island has an exceptional history of passing maintenance and operations levies.”
Still, failure isn’t unprecedented. Only 43 percent of voters supported an $8.9 million technology levy in 2005. Last year’s bond and technology levy measures passed by overwhelming margins. The current maintenance and operations levy passed by nearly 79 percent four years ago.
The district this year chose to break away from the traditional four-year levy, in order to align the next levy with those of several surrounding districts whose levies will expire in 2010.
Supporters are also hopeful that the state will eventually restructure its school financing model so that districts aren’t so reliant on local levies for funding.
Bainbridge School District helped form a coalition of districts, teachers and parents that last week filed a lawsuit against the state claiming it doesn’t adequately fund public schools as required by the state Constitution.
Gov. Chris Gregoire has proposed injecting nearly $1.3 billion into education over the next two years. Some believe the lawsuit will help pressure the state Legislature into following through with that commitment. They also hope it will lead to long-term, more sustainable school funding.
“We’ve heard the rhetoric before,” said Bainbridge Schools Superintendent Ken Crawford. “But in the end those past commitments were never realized. We’re very serious about wanting to see some improvements.”
Until then, the onus is on voters to pick up the slack.
“This levy is less glamorous than last year’s bond and levy because it pays for every day things,” Colley said “But it’s 20 percent of our budget. It’s critically important.”
***********
Cast your vote
Ballots will go out to Bainbridge voters this week for the Bainbridge Island School District’s three-year M&O levy, and Kitsap Transit’s sales tax increase for foot ferry service. Ballots for the all-mail election must be postmarked back to the county no later than Feb. 6. If you do not receive a ballot, call Kitsap County Elections at 842-2061.
