EPS will submit ballot measures for an Educational Programs & Operations levy, and a Safety, Security & Technology Capital levy

VANCOUVER – Evergreen Public Schools will ask voters to approve two replacement levies in the special election on Feb. 11, 2025, after the EPS Board of Directors unanimously approved the measures at its meeting on Tuesday.

EPS will submit ballot measures for an Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) levy, and a Safety, Security & Technology Capital (SSTC) levy. If approved by a simple majority of votes (50% plus one), the measures would replace existing levies that expire at the end of 2025. Both replacement levies would last four years.

The EP&O levy (Proposition 7) would replace a levy passed in 2022 and would pay for:

• Teachers, principals, counselors, coaches, safety & security, school support staff including secretaries, paraeducators and others.
• Extracurricular activities, including athletics, orchestra, band, choir, theater, field trips
• Special education, multilingual learners, highly capable, smaller class sizes
• Curriculum, textbooks, professional development

The SSTC levy (Proposition 8), which would replace a six-year levy passed in 2019, would pay for:

• Student and staff devices, school audio-visual equipment, network infrastructure
• Technology staff
• Online curriculum, school communication systems, internet services
• Emergency response systems, cyber security, internet safety software

Revenue from levies covers 13.5% of the district’s overall budget. Levy dollars pay for school services and programs in EPS that are not covered under the state’s basic education funding model.

The total estimated 2026 property tax rate for both levies is $2.75 per $1,000 of assessed value for each home in the EPS enrollment area ($2.35 for EP&O, $0.40 for SS&T). Homeowners are also paying a property tax for EPS’s 2018 Envision Evergreen bond that allowed the district to rebuild 15 buildings, including 13 modernized school campuses. The bond’s $1.28 rate in 2026 brings homeowner’s overall rate to $4.03 that year

The overall rate will reduce in each subsequent year of the levies. Estimated rates (rates can fluctuate because of changes in property assessments and area growth):

• 2026: $4.03 ($2.75 levies, $1.28 bond)
• 2027: $3.85 ($2.59 levies, $1.26 bond)
• 2028: $3.71 ($2.47 levies, $1.24 bond)
• 2029: $3.59 ($2.38 levies, $1.21 bond)

The Evergreen Education Association, the union that represents the district’s 1,500 certificated educators, including teachers and others, approved a union resolution supporting the levies and urging the Board to seek the maximum allowable levy rates.

More information about the levies is available at evergreenps.org/levy

Information provided by the Evergreen School District.