Mead Schools tech levy returns to ballot

Voters in the Mead School District will be asked to approve a technology and portable classroom levy March 11.

The $900,000 capital levy will provide funds for both technology in the schools and modular classrooms in the fast-growing school district.

The district had put another levy on the ballot two years ago, but it failed by 80 votes, according to Dan Butler, assistant superintendent.

District officials revised their plans to better keep costs low for taxpayers by absorbing some of the costs into the yearly budget. The infrastructure of the schools is set up for technology – every school has wireless accessibility and is connected by a fiber-optic network.

If the new levy is approved, $750,000 will go toward technology. The money will pay for additional computers for students and equipment the district wants in every classroom, such as a computer, digital projector, a media device and a document camera.

The remaining $150,000 will be used for modular classrooms for the district that is growing fast.

The district opened Prairie View Elementary School in the Five Mile area last September. As with its other elementary schools, Prairie Views was designed to hold about 600 students. The school opened with 550 students and residential developments are still going on in the area.

The plan is to bring in modular classrooms that will be more permanent than the old portable classrooms.

“Modular classrooms are more substantial than the old portable shells,” said Tom Rockefeller, superintendent of the Mead School District, which serves over 9,200 students in 14 different schools.

The classrooms would have better security than the old portable classrooms and running water, he said.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, a portable is never a portable,” Rockefeller said.

The levy, which will be paid over four years, will cost taxpayers 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed property values. Owners of a $200,000 home in the district can expect an increase of $38 per year on their property taxes.

In the past, the district needed at supermajority of votes to pass. This will be the first levy that needs only a simple majority of the votes.

“We’re not taking it lightly,” Butler said of the vote.

The district has been approaching the Parent Teacher Organizations to discuss the levy, and during the rivalry basketball game between Mead and Mt. Spokane, they held a technology night in the hallways with demonstrations of what technology can do in the classroom.

“It was well-received,” Butler said.

Butler said that the district has unique challenges with getting the word out since the Mead District is so spread out and doesn’t have a specific downtown area.

Another means of getting the word out about the vote is the district’s Web site. The site includes videos voters can watch that discuss what the district plans to do with the funds.