Mead school levy failing

Mead School District voters at press time Wednesday were rejecting a $900,000 technology and portable classroom levy, but voters in the Loon Lake School District had approved a separate $2 million capital levy that would contribute to the construction of nearby Deer Park High School.

A simple majority is needed to pass the Mead levy, but only 46.9 percent of the voters had cast ballots in favor of the measure. Go to www.spokesmanreview.com for the latest election results.

A levy offered two years ago was rejected by only 80 votes. At press time the new levy was failing 5,894 to 5,211. The levy would have paid for $750,000 of new technology – student computers, digital projectors, media devices and document cameras – to meet the district’s new technology standards. The other $150,000 in yearly levy funds would have been used for new modular classrooms that are more permanent than the current portable classrooms, and offer running water and better security.

Mead Superintendent Tom Rockefeller, who has been campaigning for the levy for several months, said many of the voters he had talked to said they were worried about several issues, including the economy, taxes, the redrawing of boundary lines in the district and the unexpected growth the district has seen.

Had the levy passed, taxpayers would have had to pay 19 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for the next four years.

Rockefeller said that even though the levy is failing, he feels that voters are still supportive of Mead schools.

Mead School District serves 9,200 students and is growing quickly, with enrollment threatening to outstrip the 600-student capacity of the new , Prairie View Elementary School opened last September.

Loon Lake School District voters overwhelmingly approved a $2 million capital levy which will cost taxpayers $1.25 per $1,000 of assessed value over the next six years to contribute to the renovations at Deer Park High School. Sixty-seven percent of voters cast ballots in favor of the measure.

The district doesn’t have its own high school, and 8.5 to 9 percent of the student population at Deer Park High School comes from Loon Lake.

Deer Park High School will be renovated at a cost of $42 million, with $18 million of that price tag coming from state funds.

If the levy hadn’t passed, the district would have had 60 days to run the election again.