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BREAKING: Calling it “restoring local levy flexibility for school districts and funding” The Washington Education Association has its lobbyist pushing to remove the Levy Lid (the 1.50 per thousand limitation on local levies). The Bill was just Introduced the 23rd of January as SB5313.
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Record November election turnout will have effect on Local Bond Issues campaigns. Passage based on two criteria:
- In a school Bond;60% of the voters must vote yes
- In addition voter turnout(both Yes and No votes) must be 40% of the last General Election to “validate” the election.
Here is a table for the upcoming election:
|
Registered |
Voted in |
40% for |
60% for |
School District |
Voters |
November |
Validation = |
Passage(min) |
Ferndale SD |
21736 |
16173 |
6469 |
3882 |
Nooksack SD |
6300 |
4631 |
1852 |
1111 |
Both Nooksack (29.7 Million bond…click here for info) andFerndale School Districts (112 Million bond… click here for more info) have scheduled special bond elections on Feb 12th
The Information given by the school district and “Vote Yes” Committees for the School Districts is based on current law. Many Democrats and Others in the State Legislature want to remove the lid of $1.50 per thousand for local levies agreed to in last years legislative resolution of the McCleary Decision. Thus the presumption of some of the district figures concerning bond and levy rates may need to be changed to reflect a much higher tax rate in the future.
Here’s some new information:
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Teacher’s Unions and Superintendents used one time tax increase for ongoing wages.
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- Since the McCleary fulfillment legislation was passed last year and included a one time increase of over $1billion dollars in tax collection and a promise to lower local school levies to no more than $1.50 per thousand in later years; many districts in the state have settled with the local Unions for double digit increases in Teacher’s wages. In many cases teachers will receive over $100,000.00 for their work which normally entails 180 days a working year (compared to 260 days for normal workers). But the real key is that because of these settlements several Districts may not be able to afford to lower their property taxes to $1.50 per thousand as prescribed by the law; to provide services for local children as provided by last years budget and agreement in the legislature. WEA district figures on the contract settlements for many districts appear on this map…
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Many Districts may face large deficits in coming years.
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These facts could put Building Bonds and Levies approval by local voters in danger in the future. Why: The “Levy Lid” of $1.50 may have to be abandoned.
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In conclusion: New taxes will be needed to keep regular services in many districts. Democrats and the Governor propose Capital Gains taxes to “fill the deficit” gap and support even more dollars for Special Education. In the 42nd our own new Democrat Representative has come out in favor of the Capital Gains tax and has backed Jay Inslee in his stand to remove the Levy Lid
[…] This was Reported here first in the Fourth Corner!! Large School districts facing budget deficits. […]
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