Issaquah voters will help decide the fate of three levies for the Issaquah School District that will be on the Feb. 11 ballot.
The levies include one for maintenance and operations, a second for technology and repair needs, and a third to replace aging school buses. The levies require a simple majority to pass. Ballots should be in your mailbox by Friday, Jan. 24.
The largest of the three levies, the maintenance and operations levy, provides 21 percent of the district’s funds for day-to-day costs, said Lesley Austin, co-manager of Volunteers for Issaquah Schools. It pays for basic general classroom needs such as textbooks, curriculum, special education, extra-curricular activities and staff salaries. If approved, the district would collect between $44 million and $54 million per year from 2015 to 2018.
Austin stressed that all of the levies are replacement levies.
“It’s just replacing expiring levies so the district can continue to operate as they have,” she said.
The technology/critical repairs levy, also to be collected from 2015 to 2018, includes two components.
“The state doesn’t fund any money for technology and it’s so important now,” Austin said.
The levy funds staff training in technology, development of online classes, upgrading internet connections and replacing hardware such as aging computers, printers, servers and document cameras.
If renewed, the district will collect $41.8 million for technology and $10.2 million for repairs over the life of the levy.
The smallest is a one-year transportation levy that would raise $1.7 million in 2015 to mainly replace 71 buses to improve the district’s fleet.
“Keep in mind the district is 110 square-miles,” Austin said. “We have a lot of unincorporated King County so these busses go up and down hills and winding roads.”
She said the district, with 18,000 students now, is the 15th largest school district in the state.
Austin, who has worked on all the Issaquah School District’s levies since 1990, said if all three levies are approved, a resident with a home assessed at $500,000 would pay not more than $40 per year extra. She said the district has always been very conservative on projecting tax impact. The district has a triple A bond rating and over a decade of clean audits.
“The money you approve is well spent,” she said.
The Issaquah Schools Foundation also has endorsed the levies.
“They’re critical to the success of our schools,” said Robin Callahan, the foundation’s director.
For more information and a full list of endorsements, visit www.visvote.org.
