Vancouver Public Schools will ask voters to approve two replacement levies in February.
The school board on Tuesday approved two resolutions placing an education and operations levy — what the state now calls an enrichment levy — and a technology levy on the Feb. 12 ballot.
The four-year education and operations levy would replace the district’s larger maintenance and operations levy, and in accordance with state education funding, would cost taxpayers $1.50 per $1,000 in assessed property value. That’s down from $2.64 per $1,000 in assessed property value in the district under the state’s new school funding model.
Over its lifetime, it’s expected that the education and operations levy would bring $147.7 million into the district.
Education and operations levy dollars would pay for classroom supplies, textbooks and equipment, building maintenance, teachers and other staff, classroom programs, and a slate of other programs.
The six-year technology levy, which would replace a 2013 technology levy, is expected to cost about 31 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value. The levy is expected to raise a total $48.9 million.
That levy would pay for technology-focused teacher training, as well as maintenance and upgrades for iPads, and laptop computers for students.
“As a teacher for more than 35 years, I know that levy dollars are crucial to our students, classrooms and schools,” board President Rosemary Fryer said in a district news release. “If approved, these levies will help ensure Vancouver students are prepared for the future.”
On a median-priced home of $334,000 in 2020, property owners can expect to pay $501 on education and operations taxes, and $103.54 on the technology levy, according to the school district.
Vancouver Public Schools is Clark County’s second-largest district, with about 23,700 students.
This is the first time the district has run levies since the state Legislature approved a new school funding model in 2017. In response to the 2012 McCleary decision, which ruled the state was failing to fund basic education, lawmakers approved a levy swap that raises state education taxes and caps local levies.
But only the first part of that went into effect this year, leaving property owners with elevated property tax bills. Next year, the caps go into effect, and district officials and legislators promise that will mean lower tax bills.
Evergreen Public Schools, Clark County’s largest school district, with about 25,700 students, announced Tuesday that it, too, would run enrichment and technology levies in February.
