Schools to ask voters to reboot 2016 levy

With 18 percent of the Peninsula School District’s budget on the line, voters in the district have an important decision to make by Feb. 11.

Voters will decide whether to renew the district’s operating levy, which needs more than 50 percent to pass. This renewal would equate to an annual levy tax rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, the same amount property owners are currently paying for the levy passed by the district in 2016.

“For us, it’s a matter of renewing this levy that will expire and is an excess for $25 million worth of funding for the school district,” said Dr. Art Jarvis, the interim superintendent for the school district.

A school district’s budget is a combination of state taxes and local taxes, with the local taxes approved through a levy. The $25 million equates to one in every six dollars in the Peninsula School District’s general fund, and goes directly toward educational programs and operations.

“As far as supporting the levy, the community has been very gracious. This is a very good community, they really support their schools,” Dr. Jarvis said.

Half of the districts’ classified staff — that is, non-teachers— is funded by the levy, along with maintenance, para-educators, office manager-secretaries, and athletic and music programs. To be exact, 72 percent of this levy pays for staff and staff training, and 28 percent pays for materials and supplies.

Deborah Krishnadasan, the Peninsula School District board president, added that the safety of students depends partly on this levy.

“The state funds one nurse for every 6,700 students,” Krishnadasan said. “We have 9,000 students for our 15 schools, meaning we are funded 1.2 nurses for all 15 schools. It is important we have health professionals in our schools, and the levy allows us to do this.”

Dr. Jarvis said this levy will not add anything new to the district, but rather continue the operations the district has provided to the schools, due to the previous passed levy in 2016.

“Because this has already been in place for years, we have already made decisions on what we will do with the money,” Dr. Jarvis said.

He urges people to vote, saying this is a wonderful community with great supporters of their school district, shown by the 70 percent approval of the 2016 levy. When the 2016 levy was passed, the annual levy tax rate in 2017 equated to $2.09 per $1,000.

“We can say to the tax payers ‘We are keeping your taxes right at that $1.50 levy, lower than the last time you had to approve this,’” Dr. Jarvis said.

Both Dr. Jarvis and Krishnadasan said many citizens could confuse this with the bond issue passed for the Peninsula School District last February, but these are two completely separate issues.

The passing of the bond meant two new elementary schools will be built, along with the remodeling of two existing schools. The bond money cannot legally be used for daily operations for the school district.

“Bonds are for buildings and levies are for learning,” Krishnadasan said.

Dr. Jarvis said if this levy does not pass, it will force the district to re-run it, paying for another election that would occur around April. He is optimistic this will not be the case, due to the continuous support of the voters.