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Sumner School Board asks voters to pass replacement levy

By Avani Nadkarni/of The Herald

The Sumner School Board passed a resolution that authorizes a ballot measure for the Feb. 9 special election. The measure asks voters to approve a replacement levy for 2011 through 2014.

“Our current existing levy expires at the end of 2010,” said Ann Cook, communications director for Sumner School District. “This replaces that levy. It’s not a new tax.”

The replacement levy, which would go into effect in 2011, would tax residents $17 million in 2011, $18 million in 2012, $19 million in 2013 and $21 million in 2014. This would mean taxpayers would pay $2.93 per $1,000 of assesed property value in 2011, $3.01, $3.09 and $3.32 in subsequent years. If approved, the levy rate would be one of the lowest in Pierce County, Cook said. This money is crucial for the district, she said.

“It is about 20 percent of our general fund,” she explained. “Every district in the state depends on local funding through levies. School districts depend on that local support.”

Right now, the levy dollars are helping fund 55 teachers, 58 paraeducators, 31 bus drivers and other transportation staff, seven campus safety officers, all athletics and other extracurricular and some instructional materials.

Before the ballots are mailed to voters on Jan. 22, Cook said the district will begin getting the details of the levy to the residents. Having more transparency is a goal for the district, she added.

“In these challenging times, it’s really important that voters in the Sumner School District know how many jobs the levy pays for, the kinds of programs and services it pays for,” Cook said. “It’s important for us to be more specific than we have in the past. (We need to give) a list of items that the lev pays for. We teach children in classrooms every day and it takes a lot of people to do that.”