BELLINGHAM — Bellingham School District voters are being asked to approve two items on the March 11 ballot: a replacement four-year maintenance and operations levy and a replacement four-year technology levy.
The current maintenance and operations levy and technology levy will both expire at the end of this year.
If the measures pass, the estimated combined tax rate for all taxes for the school district in 2009, including the $67 million bond passed in 2006, would be about $3.27 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value. That means a person who owns a home assessed at $300,000 would pay about $981.
The current tax rate is $3.26 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value. That’s about $978 this year for the owner of a $300,000 home, according to the Whatcom County Assessor’s tax book.
District officials say both levies are necessary to keep the school district running the way it is.
“We’re just talking about maintaining what we have now,” said Superintendent Ken Vedra. “This is a basic need, not a frill.”
The maintenance and operations levy accounts for about 20 percent of the district’s budget. It allows officials to pay for items that the state doesn’t fully fund, such as special education, classroom aides, transportation and smaller class sizes.
The technology levy would allow the district to continue updating computers and phone systems and train staff so they can integrate technology into the classroom. The levy funds also would help the district implement a technology plan, part of which calls for extending the wireless networks “to get the district to the place where we can take computers to kids instead of taking kids to computers,” Vedra said.
Both levies need just over 50 percent of voter approval to pass. If they don’t pass, district officials will eventually have to figure out areas to cut the budget to make up for the loss in funding.
“Eighty-five percent of the budget is in people,” said Ron Cowan, assistant superintendent of business and operations. “It’s going to have significant impacts in what would be reduced. … We’d be looking at reducing programs and staff.”