NEAH BAY — The Cape Flattery School District has put a four-year $1.8 million educational programs and operations replacement levy on Clallam County’s Feb. 13 special election ballot.
The school board approved the measure at its Nov. 20 meeting.
The levy would cost taxpayers $1.84 per $1,000 in assessed property value over the next four years when the current levy expires in 2024. It would collect $439,860 in 2024 for 2025; $453,055 in 2025 for 2026; $466,647 in 2026 for 2027; and $480,646 in 2027 for 2028.
Levies require a simple majority to pass. They make up the difference between funding from the state and the actual cost of programs and services districts need to provide students.
Superintendent Michelle Parkin said the school board was mindful of balancing the needs of the district and serving students with what the community could carry financially when it deliberated over the levy rate. It chose to ask a rate lower than the maximum of $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value districts are allowed under state law.
“We knew that was going to be a big ask for our community to meet that request,” Parkin said. “We knew that our businesses in the Clallam Bay and Sekiu area take the largest hit, so we take that into consideration whenever we’re running a levy or a bond.”
The district also had to choose a rate that would enable it to continue to qualify for the Local Effort Assistance program, which provides state funds to school districts to compensate for the effect high property taxes have on their ability to raise levy revenue.
The Cape Flattery EP&O levy helps fund paraeducator, counselor and school nurse salaries, and it pays for supplies and materials, technology upgrades and extracurricular activities like athletics.
According to the minutes of a Nov. 8 school board work session, levy dollars fund about 28 percent of the budget.
Cape Flattery enrolls about 490 students in Clallam Bay and Neah Bay schools.
Parkin said the community has traditionally shown a strong commitment to students and education.
“We have always passed the levy, you can go back decades, so there’s a lot of support for this,” she said.
Crescent School District will have replacements for its EP&O and capital projects levies on the Clallam County special election ballot, as well.
The Port Angeles and Quillayute Valley school districts have not proposed levies.
In Jefferson County, the Brinnon School District (replacement EP&O levy); Chimacum School District (replacement capital projects levy); Queets School District (EP&O levy); and Quilcene School District (replacement EP&O levy) will have proposals on the special election ballot.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.