WVSD levy outcome to be decided Tuesday
Many ballots already have been mailed. The results of West Valley School District’s second attempt to pass a replacement maintenance and operations levy will be decided when the votes are tallied Tuesday night.
While proponents of the levy believe that passing the levy is crucial to the future of the schools, others have a different perspective.
On May 8, Tim Carson held a “ballot burning bash,” attended by a group of like-minded people at Argonne Road and Columbia Drive.
His theory was that the way to defeat the school levy was not to vote. That way there wouldn’t be enough votes to validate the election.
The levy vote on March 14 was 43 votes short of meeting the state-mandated 60 percent supermajority needed to pass.
The three-year levy would replace an expiring 2003 levy. If it passes the district will receive $6.7 million in 2007, $6.9 million in 2008 and $7.1 million in 2009.
This money accounts for more than 20 percent of the district’s budget.
“I’m not against giving money to the school district or paying taxes. But it’s disproportionate to what I feel would be reasonable,” said Carson.
Carson writes a check twice a year for his taxes. He says this makes him more aware of how much money he’s actually paying for schools.
“When is enough, enough? I think the last time around I paid about $210 a month for schools. I could be driving a new car, that’s a car payment. But the good thing about a car payment is that it ends eventually. This (levy tax) is like the Eveready bunny. It just keeps going and going,” said Carson.
Carson doesn’t have children attending school in the district but says the district has a whole pot of money at its disposal.
“There’s the uncontrolled greed by the West Valley School District, the highest in Washington state,” said Carson.
West Valley Superintendent Polly Crowley disagrees.
Crowley said that by state law, school districts are independently audited to make sure that funds aren’t wasted and that they don’t have too much money in reserve.
The district was recently honored statewide for high achievement and is committed to continue at this level, she said. “We are financially responsible and as a high achieving district we put our funding to good use,” said Crowley.
West Valley has a higher tax rate than other Valley school districts because of its location and ratio of residential to industrial and commercial property taxpayers.
“We are geographically landlocked and don’t have industries except for the paper mill and some businesses on Trent and Argonne,” said Crowley. This means that residential taxpayers bear most of the tax burden.
The levy pays for things that the state doesn’t fund such as athletics, intramural sports, music, band, art, drama, counselors and counseling assistants.
About 85 percent of the levy money pays for personnel including maintenance workers, bus drivers, cooks, secretaries, teaching staff, education assistants and technology staff.
Approximately 85 percent of elementary students in the district take the bus, many for safety reasons. Transportation expenses are paid by levy funds. If the levy fails students could be walking to school – crossing high traffic arterials like Trent, Sprague and Argonne, railroad tracks, the Spokane River and Interstate 90, said Crowley.
The levy doesn’t pay for any kind of construction or remodeling of schools. Bonds pay for buildings and levies pay for learning.
The school district would lose almost $1 million in state funds if the levy fails. The state provides this money (levy equalization) to districts that pass levies and have a lower tax base than the state average.
Under the replacement levy, taxes would decrease from their current levels. For example, the current tax for a house valued at $100,000 is $42.17 per month. Under the replacement levy the same taxpayer would pay $39.17.