School levy voting underway

Ballots went into the mail Tuesday to La Conner school district residents for replacing the school levy. The proposed rate for this educational and operational programs levy is $1.50 per thousand, a reduction of almost one dollar of assessed valuation. It is not a new tax.

The two-year levy will provide $1,741,210, with $870,605 collected in each 2020 and 2021.

The total school tax rate is $4.25 per thousand with the current bond.

Funds are targeted for safety, extra-curricular activities, food services, highly capable program, special education, Braves Club, STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Math curricula) and transportation. In her column on page eight of today’s Weekly News, Superintendent Whitney Meissner makes the point that these programs are “only partially funded by levy funds. Furthermore, each item directly supports learning, often for some of our most vulnerable populations.”

When the school board agreed to the levy at their November meeting, Meissner said “the levy is not for staffing,” but for operations and maintenance. Last week she stressed: “It is seven percent of our overall operating budget. The board and I have thought carefully how to best support student learning. We prioritize our expenditures and support for student learning.”

Asked last week about residents’ questions at meetings the district is holding. Meissner shared, “The question that I get a lot is ‘how is this fair to all taxpayers? If I live on tribal tax land how is it fair? If I live on non-tribal tax land how is it fair?’”

Meissner reflected, “Our community really cares about fairness and they really care about the schools. When we understand each other better, we strengthen relationships.”

She said that the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s contributions to the school district this year is “$1.6 million in each of two years, some in cash and some in program support and personnel; $660,000 in cash, over $700,000 in personnel and $320,000 toward preschool operations. Meissner lists the categories on page eight.

If approved, the tax will be levied upon all taxable property within the district. Over 900 parcels on leased Swinomish Reservation land cannot be taxed, based on the 2013 Great Wolf Lodge decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court protected from taxation all permanent improvements on tribal land independent of the ownership of those improvements.

There are 2,600 households and 3,749 active registered voters in the La Conner school district, county elections supervisor David Cunningham said in November.

Feb. 12 is the last day to return ballots at the La Conner library, Swinomish social services building, the county auditor’s Mount Vernon office, or by mail.

The school district shares election costs with the residents of the Burlington-Edison, Concrete and Mount Vernon school districts, which also have levy votes. Mount Vernon voters have a technology and capital projects levy as well. Burlington-Edison’s levy is for general obligation bonds.

There is no organized opposition to the levy. No statement was filed with the county’s election office.

The McCleary final settlement at the state supreme court last year forced the Washington legislature to meet its constitutional obligation to fund basic education. The McCleary decision found that schools were not adequately funded and teachers not adequately paid. The legislature approved some two billion dollars of new funding for teacher salaries last spring. It also limited local levies limited to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, which is the rate for this election.