School district to propose second levy

The Grand Coulee Dam School District will be proposing an “enrichment levy” for 2019 meant to bring in approximately $450,000 each year, the second part of a two-levy approach intended to replace the single levy now taken over by the state.

Needing to submit a list of items that match up to $450,000 to the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the district board Monday night approved the following list of areas the money would support:

Special Education - $120,000

Pre-School - $80,000

Driver’s Education - $8,000

Science Technology Engineering Math - $20,000

Extra-curricular supplies, salaries, travel - $102,000

Co-curricular, basic education, field trips, travel and supplies - $50,000

School lunch, offset lack of revenue - $70,000

Superintendent Paul Turner said a draft for a levy resolution will be presented at the next school board meeting Nov. 26, with more specific amounts of expected revenue from the levy.

An “operations and maintenance” levy, expiring at the end of 2018, took in $4.01 per thousand dollars of assessed property value. But because of Engrossed House Bill (EHB) 2242, passed by state Legislature in 2017, the school district can only ask for $1.50 for what is now called an “enrichment” levy, the difference between the two being $2.51. The state also began taking 81 cents per thousand, and a $1.70 Capital Projects Levy passed earlier this year makes up that difference.

If the $1.50 enrichment levy passes, in addition to the $1.70 Capital Projects Levy, and the 81 cents the state takes for education, the district would, in theory, be bringing in the $4.01 it was in previous years. The 81 cents the state takes in for education doesn’t necessarily get distributed appropriately to rural districts, Turner explained.

Without the $1.50 per thousand enrichment levy passing, Turner says the school district would be short over $1.2 million per year as the budget now stands in coming years. Even with the levy passing, because of budget strains, including the recent 15-percent teacher salary increase, the district is set to be short about $800,000 per year, a thought met with sombre consternations from board members at their meeting.