With panic the word of the hour on Wall Street, the fears and uncertainties generated there are beginning to reach Whidbey Island.
At Wednesday’s Oak Harbor school levy presentation, citizens voiced concerns about doubling the current levy rate of 50 cents per $1,000 valuation to a proposed $1 per $1,000 valuation.
Total levy funds going to the school district would double from about $2 million to $4 million a year.
“The tax on this levy is not the only tax we pay on our property,” Major “Butch” Laurion, executive director of the Armed Services YMCA, said. “And we are facing a $3 to $5 billion deficit in this state.”
Oak Harbor’s school maintenance and operations levy was established in 2001 and a vote will determine its renewal in 2009. It funds 20 teachers, 10 teacher assistants, computer technicians, custodians and school supplies. State matching for the current levy is $400,000, but would increase to $800,000 under the proposal.
Over the past two years, decreases in school enrollment, less state funding and increased insurance costs have forced about $4 million in district-wide budget cuts. In one year, staff costs increased by 7 percent after raises for teachers hired under the 2001 levy weren’t fronted by the state. Superintendent Rick Schulte described the state’s formula for the last few years as creating the “perfect storm.”
School board members said the levy proposal would fund more math and science teachers and restore some of the budget cuts.
“Someone recently said to me, ‘With the economy so bad right now, maybe we shouldn’t pass a levy this year,’” Dave McCool, president of the Oak Harbor school board, said at the meeting.
Jayme Hunt, a sophomore at Oak Harbor High School, posed the question to Schulte: What if nothing was passed?
“We’d have to cut 20 teachers, 20 support staff, all the gains we’ve made would go away,” he said.
Levy gains also included 30 minutes of instruction per day for elementary school students, hot lunches in every school and nearly double the number of Advanced Placement courses for high school students, a reason Hunt attended Wednesday’s meeting.
“I was concerned because we need those courses to look good to colleges,” Hunt said.
Laurion said he is not against a levy, but is wary of the current economy. The school levy is funded by property taxes; however, increased property valuation does not increase the amount collected by schools. As valuation goes up, the levy comes down as it did in 2005; from 75 cents to 50 cents.
“Is it prudent at this time to ask taxpayers for an increase to $1, or to stay at 50 cents for a year or two and see if the economy recovers?” Laurion said. Levies can be instated between one and four years.
Schulte said that to pass a levy that stays at the same rate, the district couldn’t maintain 20 teachers without making cuts elsewhere.
He added that by any comparison, Oak Harbor has one of the lowest local levies in the state, roughly one-quarter of the state average.
“In a poor economy, do you want to be the more educated person or the less educated person?” Schulte asked at the close of the meeting.
So far, the school board has handed out 250 surveys to help redirect the proposed levy amount and priorities. The amount being discussed was determined in April and May, before the economic crisis.
The vote will occur this March.
