West Valley plans levy revote

The West Valley School District will ask voters to reconsider the March 14 rejection of a $7 million levy to cover basic school expenses.

That’s the amount lost when the levy fell just 44 votes short of passage. It represents about 20 percent of the district’s budget and pays for things such as teachers and school bus drivers.

Wednesday evening, school board officials unanimously voted to try again in a mail ballot election May 16. The consensus among board members was that voters didn’t understand there was no tax increase if the levy passed. The question posed to voters was whether to continue supporting basic school expenses, known as maintenance and operations costs.

“One common thing we’ve heard is people asking ‘Is this a new tax or is it a replacement levy?’ ” said Doug Matson, assistant superintendent.

In the days after the election, teachers at Centennial Middle School were hearing from students that parents didn’t want another tax increase and rejected the levy, Superintendent Polly Crowley said.

Of the 15 school districts with funding issues on the ballot in Spokane County last week, only West Valley failed to pass its maintenance and operations levy. Only West Valley and one other district, Nine Mile Falls, omitted the word “replacement” from the language describing their levies for maintenance and operations.

Nine Mile Falls passed its replacement levy but not by the comfortable margins experienced by other districts. West Valley convinced 59.2 percent of its voters to support the levy but needed 60 percent to get the job done.

Oddly enough, West Valley voters gave strong approval to a second levy to fund classroom computers and other technology upgrades, which will increase taxes somewhat.

But it’s the failed levy that was crucial to West Valley. The money is used to cover things like bus expenses, for which the state provides no assistance. Most West Valley students bus to school because the district is bisected by several major arterials, Interstate 90 and at two railroads.

Also, the state grants the district $1 million a year if the maintenance and operations levy exits. Without the levy, the district gets none of that money from the state.

West Valley will likely focus its next campaign on reaching parents on a more personal level, probably asking its teachers to write a letter or two after-hours, Crowley said.

Another voting bloc the district will likely tackle is unregistered voters. Matching parent lists to voter registration sheets, West Valley officials found about 600 district parents who were not registered to vote.

The new ballots will be mailed in April. Because there are no other issues on the ballot, the district will have to bear the full cost of the election, which officials estimate to be less than $15,000.