Othello School Board to discuss levy options

Special meeting date, time will be announced

OTHELLO — Othello School Board members will hold a special meeting to discuss options for a proposed “educational programs and operations” levy. Board members tabled a discussion on the proposal during the regular meeting. That, said board vice-chair Mike Garza, will allow all five board members to take part.

If board members decide to go ahead, the levy will be submitted to voters in February. The levy would replace the existing maintenance and operations levy approved by voters in 2017.

School funding changes made by the 2018 Washington Legislature changed some of the programs that could be funded by a levy. It didn’t change everything — some programs, like extracurricular activities, would still be funded through the levy.

Along with the programs that could be funded by the levy, legislators changed the funding formula. Janette Bumgarner, the district’s executive director of business services, gave board members three options for the levy proposal. She provided tax assessment estimates for three years, 2021-23.

Initially legislators set the maximum rate for local EP&O levies at about $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Bumgarner said the first option is to leave the levy rate at about that amount; she estimated the assessment would be $1.53 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2021-22 and $1.55 in 2023.

At that rate the district would qualify for maximum levy equalization. That’s a state program that provides additional funding to districts that pass a levy, but have relatively lower property values. (Othello qualifies for maximum levy equalization under all three options, she said.)

She estimated at that rate the levy would generate $2.35 million in 2021 and $2.44 million in 2022.

The second option would set levy rates at about $2.25 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s close to the assessment rates in the 2017 levy approved by voters. Bumgarner estimated the rate would be about $2.25 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2021-22 and $2.23 per $1,000 of assessed value in 2023.

She estimated that would generate about $3.45 million in 2021 and about $3.575 million in 2022.

The third option would establish the assessment rate at about $1.90 per $1,000 of assessed value. Bumgarner estimated the rate would stay the same all three years.

The levy at that rate would generate about $2.91 million in 2021 and about $3.025 million in 2022.

“The EP&O levy would be used to support many programs for the district,” Bumgarner wrote. Among others, programs partially or fully funded by the levy include “athletics, nursing, custodial, maintenance, technology, security, certified staff contract costs, curriculum, early learning programs, community education and staff professional development.”

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