Hockinson School District had two levies fail in the Feb. 12 election, and the district is going to try again in April.
At a special meeting Tuesday night, the school board voted to put a replacement three-year levy and technology levy on the ballot for the next special election.
The district is asking for $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value for all three years of the replacement levy, which would be used to keep class sizes down, help fund special education programs, extracurricular activities and athletics.
The technology levy would start in 2020, and the district is asking for an estimated 45 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, followed by 40 cents per $1,000 in 2021 and 36 cents per $1,000 in 2022. That money is expected to be used for technology refreshes, safety and security upgrades, heating and cooling improvements and capital improvements.
Thanks to the McCleary decision, local levies can only go up to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Michelle Scott, director of business services for the district, said Hockinson was originally scheduled to collect nearly $5 million in local levy dollars until the levy cap. The district is now anticipating collecting about $2.4 million from local levies this year.
In 2018, Hockinson’s levy rate was $3.43 per $1,000 of assessed. This year, the levy rate is that $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value due to the new local levy cap. If the two levies pass, the estimated combined levy rate for residents will be $1.95 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2020, $1.90 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2021 and $1.86 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2022.
Both levies failed to reach the 50 percent plus one vote simple majority required to pass in the February election. At the most recent count, the replacement levy received a little more than 47 percent in favor, while the technology levy was sitting at around 46 percent in favor.
School districts are able to run a levy twice per calendar year, according to Katy Payne, interim communications manager for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Superintendent search
The district is also in the process of looking for a new superintendent after Sandra Yager announced in November that she will step down after this school year. Yager will become the superintendent at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Vancouver. She has been Hockinson’s superintendent for the last eight years, and prior to that, served as the first principal of Hockinson High School when it opened in 2003.
Hockinson will host a candidate forum starting at 5 p.m. March 4 in the multi-purpose room at Hockinson High School, 16819 N.E. 159th St., Brush Prairie. From 5 to 5:15 p.m., attendees will be allowed to submit interview questions. At 5:30 p.m., Roger Rada of Northwest Leadership Associates, which is conducting the superintendent search process, will interview candidates for a half hour each.
At the end of the interviews, attendees will be allowed to submit feedback forms and join the candidates for coffee and cookies.
