Othello voters to decide fate of school M&O levy

OTHELLO — Othello School District voters will be asked to approve or reject a three-year maintenance and operations levy in a special election Feb. 14. If approved, the levy would replace one approved by voters in 2014.

Ballots must be returned to the Adams County Auditor's Office by Feb. 14.

The levy, if approved, would be $3,050,000 in 2018, $3,200,000 in 2019 and $3,350,000 in 2020, an increase of $150,000 per year. Landowners would pay a projected $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year, a projected $2.44 per $1,000 of assessed value in the second year, and $2.48 per $1,000 of assessed value in the third year. The owner of land worth $200,000 would pay about $480 in taxes in the first year, about $488 in taxes in the second year and about $496 in taxes in the third year.

School M&O levies must receive a bare majority, 50 percent plus one vote, to pass.

Othello is also eligible for levy equalization funds from the state. Levy equalization provides additional money to districts with relatively lower property values. But levy assistance is only available to districts that pass a maintenance and operations levy.

In Othello, levy equalization is actually more than the levy itself. For the 2016-17 school year, the district received $2,858,000 from the levy and $4,437,154 from levy equalization. For 2016-17 the levy and levy equalization accounted for about 15 percent of the district’s budget.

Levy equalization from 2018 on will depend on the Washington Legislature. Legislators approved a temporary increase in the amount of money districts could collect through the levy, but that increase is set to expire in 2018, unless legislators vote to extend it.

If that authority is not extended, levy equalization would generate about $3.5 million for Othello in 2018, and increase slightly in the remaining two years.

Levy (and levy equalization) money is used to pay for programs the state doesn’t pay for, and to supplement programs only partially funded by the state.

Levy money goes to support the district’s preschool and kindergarten prep program, summer school and AVID program. (The AVID program helps middle school and high school students prepare for college.) After-school and extracurricular programs are funded through the levy, In fact, all extracurricular funding must be generated locally.

Being a maintenance levy, it also pays for school maintenance as well as some technology and safety programs. Some teacher training and curriculum support is included. The levy also pays for wages and benefits not included in state basic school support for teachers, aides, administrators and substitutes.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.