Voters did not approve the replacement levy during the Feb. special 14 election

WOODLAND – Woodland Public Schools’ Board of Directors approved a resolution to run a three-year Replacement Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy to replace the district’s current levy which expires this year in a special election on Tue., April 25 after voters did not approve the replacement levy during the February 14 election.

After speaking with members of the community, district administrators and board members learned there was confusion in the community about the replacement levy, five key levy facts were identified community members needed to know:

• The replacement levy is not a new tax. The board of directors approved a levy to replace the existing levy that expires in 2023 with a three-year levy at a lower tax rate voters are currently paying:
  • This year (2023): $2.10 per $1,000 of assessed property value 
  • Next year (2024): $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value
  • 2025: $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value
  • 2026: $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value
     
• The replacement levy collects less tax in 2024. The levy expiring in 2023 will collect $6,100,000 in taxes. The School Board of Directors chose to lower the amount collected in the first year (2024) of the replacement levy to $5,900,000 to provide some tax relief to the community. As a result, a homeowner whose house is valued at $250,000 will pay $525 in 2023 for the local levy ($2.10 x 250 = $525) but $478 in 2024, approximately 9 percent lower ($1.91 x 250 = $478). The tax amount increases in 2025 and 2026 to reflect project growth in the Woodland community, however the tax rate is projected to stay the same at $1.91 per $1,000 of assessed property value in all three years.
   
• Increases in assessed property values do not increase school levies. School districts can only collect the tax amount approved by voters. If assessed property values increase, the tax rate collected by districts decreases in direct proportion. For example, the estimated tax rate for 2023 when the expiring levy passed in 2020 was $2.36. However, since assessed property values increased, the actual rate was lowered to $2.10.
   
• Levies are not bonds. Levies pay for educational programs and services. Bonds pay for new buildings. Woodland’s replacement levy fills the gap between what the Washington state legislature funds and what local schools actually need to provide high-quality educational programs.
   
• Without a replacement levy for its expiring levy, Woodland Public Schools must cut $3,000,000 in educational programs and services for the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. Nearly every school district in Washington State needs a locally-funded levy to provide the additional services schools need to provide high-quality educational opportunities for children.
  
  In Woodland, the local levy funds the following, all of which may be reduced in size or eliminated entirely without a replacement levy:
  
  
  • 76 percent of staff who keep our technology infrastructure and tools working
  • 38 percent of staff who keep floors vacuumed, windows washed, and lunchrooms clean
  • 43 percent of staff who keep the lawns mowed, buildings painted, Heating Systems running, and facilities repaired.
  • 19 percent of all costs associated with keeping students nourished
  • 35 percent of district-level administrative and support staff
  • 72 percent of Basic Ed Paraprofessional, health room, and Program Specialist Staff
  • 100 percent of extracurricular, arts, music and athletic programs
  • 61 percent of school nurse
  • 78 percent of substitute costs
  • 23 percent of Yale School Staff
  • 11 percent of Woodland Middle School Staff
  • 21 percent of Woodland High School Staff
  • 100 percent of Programs like PASS at WHS, and the Family Community Resources Center.
  • 12 percent of total Special Education expenditures 

Although the state increased the maximum amount school districts can collect from local levies to $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, Woodland Public Schools’ Board of Directors elected not to collect the maximum amount, opting instead to collect $1.91 in all three years the Replacement Levy will operate.

Washington state’s legislature continues to underfund most school districts. “Local communities must take on the role of supplying the funding their schools need for high-quality educational programs through local levies,” explained Superintendent Michael Green. “Without community support, we will have no choice but to take dire and draconian measures, cutting the budgets of our local schools dramatically to the point where our community’s children will have access to the barest minimum in educational opportunities.”

The special election for Woodland Public Schools’ replacement levy runs from April 7 to April 25.

Community members can register to vote online anytime up until April 17 at https://voter.votewa.gov/WhereToVote.aspx and in person at the County Elections office up until April 25, 2023

For more information about Woodland Public Schools’ replacement levy, visit the district’s website at: https://www.woodlandschools.org/levy or call the district office at (360) 841-2700.

Information provided by Woodland School District.