Local school levy a partnership

School districts in the state of Washington continue to rely on a partnership for funding between state and local resources. Local communities through a levy provide essential resources to augment the basic state school support. Our community has responsibly renewed the local commitment to assure that Grand Coulee Dam Schools are able to depend on stable local funding to enhance the basic state support.

Our school board has established a pattern of submitting four-year levies with strong community support. The benefit to the community is efficiency, since running an election is a cost to the school district. The benefit to the school district is predictable, stable, local funding.

The local levy is a replacement for the levy that was previously authorized. Thus, as one levy expires the succeeding levy begins. As taxpayers we benefit from stable levy rates and reasonable personal commitment.

The community receives an additional benefit, in that our limited local tax base qualifies us to receive a match from the state called local effort assistance or levy equalization funds. Our community receives approximately $535,000 annually to match our local levy amount of approximately $1.1 million per year. This means that state resources help pay about one third of our local share.

The Grand Coulee Dam community has been there for the youth of this community throughout the years. As we move into a new era with quality facilities it’s imperative that we provide the operational support to sustain the school programs within the facilities. Our youth and our schools need our support!

Jim Keene