The Lake Washington School District Board of Directors unanimously approved at its Nov. 23 meeting three funding measures — two levies and one bond measure — to be placed on the Feb. 9, 2010 ballot.
The total of all three measures would increase the total tax paid on a home with the average assessed value in the district from $1,448 in 2010 to $1,618 in 2011, or an increase of approximately $170.
The measures are a four-year Educational Programs and Operations Levy, a four-year Capital Projects Levy including both facilities and technology items, and a new bond measure. The bond would include modernization of Juanita High School along with expansion of Redmond and Eastlake High and Environmental and Adventure School to provide space for expected enrollment growth as well as enabling the district to move toward four-year high schools.
The Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy would renew the current levy, which will expire at the end of 2010. This measure approves a specific amount that the district can collect. State law caps that amount. The total under the proposal ranges from $49.1 million in 2011 to $60.1 million in 2014. The first year’s total alone is the equivalent of the cost of 612 teachers.
The EP&O raises almost one-fifth of the district’s operating budget (19 percent) and it actually pays for many of the district’s core items such as teacher training, textbooks, and transportation.
Other costs paid for by the EP&O levy include teacher planning time, safety and security, and student activities and athletics. The total amounts would generate an estimated tax rate of $1.34 per thousand dollars of assessed property value in 2011 to $1.46 per thousand of assessed value in 2014.
The renewal Capital Projects Levy provides money to pay for building repairs and system replacements as well as technology replacement and upgrades. The facilities plan levy replaces major systems, like roofs, at appropriate times through the life of each school building. It also pays for safety and accessibility improvements and for water and energy conservation projects. The technology portion of the levy provides students equipment and software to help them learn, and gives teachers technology to provide a 21st century education. It includes technology replacement, infrastructure and training.
The cost of the capital projects levy renewal for both facilities and technology would range from $18.0 million in 2011 to $23.7 million in 2014. That amount is expected to generate a tax rate of between $.49 and $.58 per thousand of assessed value per year.
A new bond measure would prevent overcrowding, enable the district’s change to a four-year high school configuration and provide for equitable high school facilities. Growth projections show the district will grow by 1,200 students by 2014, and 2,500 students by 2020.
The district will need two or more elementary schools by 2014, likely in the Redmond Ridge East neighborhood and north of Northeast 116th Street in Redmond, because that is where population growth is projected.
Expansion projects at Redmond and Eastlake High Schools and for the Environmental and Adventure School will provide additional space for the change in grade configuration for the district. Building at the secondary school level would relieve the need for even more elementary schools.
Putting the modernization of Juanita High School in this measure now, rather than in 2014, will bring it up to the standard of the other three high schools in the district (Redmond, Eastlake and Lake Washington). It would also take advantage of a favorable environment for construction costs and interest rates.
The cost of the new bond measure, which would raise $234 million, would be $.32 to $.33 per thousand in assessed value.
For more information about the Lake Washington School District, visit www.lwsd.org.
