Shoreline School District to put levy on November ballot to cover some of the state budget cuts

From Shoreline Schools

The Shoreline School Board has voted unanimously to move forward with a Supplemental Maintenance and Operations Levy proposal on the November 8, 2011 general election ballot.

The decision to place the supplemental levy on the ballot comes in the wake of the planned cuts to basic education in Shoreline of more than $5.7 million annually.

Included in these cuts is $4.2 million in voter approved I-728 dollars used for class-size reduction, professional development of staff and extended learning opportunities for struggling students. Another $800,000 in funding was cut in class-size reduction in grades K-4, funding which has been in place for more than 20 years. Finally, more than $770,000 was reduced in other areas.

The impact of these reductions is only magnified by the loss of federal stimulus funds amounting to $1.5 million annually for special education and Title I programs. In addition, the state has raised the retirement and health care costs to the District by approximately $860,000 over the next two years.

"The District's reserves are healthy, but not adequate to weather this financial storm for two more years and beyond," Superintendent Sue Walker wrote in a recent message to the community.

Even after having to supplement K-4 class size funding by using $600,000 in reserve funds this year, the District believes that it can sustain the current class size model next year as well.  However, by 2012-13 more revenue will be required.

The state authorized additional capacity in the maintenance and operations levy last year. It is estimated that the District would be able to collect approximately $1.2 million more of local revenue in 2012 to 2014 if voters approved a supplemental levy in November 2011. The measure would require a simple majority for passage. Current estimates suggest that such a measure would increase rates by 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value or about $60 a year for a home valued at $400,000. Voters in the neighboring districts of Edmonds, Northshore and Seattle have approved similar supplemental levy measures.