Let me start off by saying that we have no position on a yes or no vote for the Hockinson levy’s. We hope that the voter participation is HUGE so the result is without question. Saying that the ongoing concern is that when a school district shares information they focus on the details that are supportive. They all claim there is no promotion and that they are balanced. Unfortunately that’s not true. You never get the downside. You never get the negatives. You only see what would be considered positive.
Our job is make sure you are aware of the shortcomings and things left unsaid. We’re not trying to be negative but since school districts have no legal obligation to share the pros and cons; good and bad…they don’t. So, the following is a breakdown of the information we obtained from a Public Information Request (PIR) filed with the Hockinson school district in early December 2018. Here we go…
We received three (3) documents in response to our information request. We encourage you to download/open each document and read them for yourself. For those who want highlights see below.
(1) Their letter recognizing our request: 2019_Hockinson_PiR_12-12-18 Five Day Letter Hockindson_Feb_2019_Levy Response Hockinson_Feb_2019_Response_2
(2) Letter showing the new proposed Enrichment Levy (previously called Maintenance and Operations Levy): Hockindson_Feb_2019_Levy Response
(3) Letter showing the new “Tech Levy”: Hockinson_Feb_2019_Response_2
Background – The WA State Legislature imposed significant changes in school funding in 2018. They increased your property tax rate for schools (State level) from $1.98/$1000 of assessed value to $2.89/$1000 of assessed value. That represents a 45.9% increase. In the same legislation they capped the local Maintenance & Operations Levy at $1.50/$1000 of assessed value. The Legislature also gave the district money to offset any local losses. The intent of the changes was to remove the need for local levy’s to pay for additional personnel and focus on “Enrichment” rather than Operations. The Legislature left in place the ability of districts to add new levy’s specific to a use (i.e. Technology Levies or Health Levies or Transportation Levies…but voters must approve.) Out of the increased State funding to operate the district the Teachers Unions interpreted the law changes to mean most of the money should go to increases in salaries. That led to a number of local teacher strikes.
So what is the Hockinson SD (school district) asking for in the way of levies?
Enrichment Levy
(1) This is a new name for what you knew as Maintenance & Operations. In the documents they supplied here’s how they describe the intent of this levy (this is a copy of the exact document so it may be a little dark so we’ll re-type the words): 
Retype: This proposed school programs & operations levy expenditure plan will pay for additional salaries and benefits above the prototypical funding formula such as additional staffing, additional days for professional development, and salaries and benefits not funded by state proceeds. Also included is special education expenditures and transportation above state funding and extracurricular activities.
Comment: As worded they are using the new “Enrichment Levy” for exactly what the old levy did. The increase in state taxes was specifically intended to STOP this from continuing. How is it legal?
(2) What’s the length of the levy? 3 years
(3) How much money will be raised (projected)? 2020 = $2,685,000; 2021 = $3,005,000; 2022 = $3,335,000 Total = $9,025,000
Comment: It’s not clear that they are using market assessed value increases in their projections. In one example they say a 0% increase and in another example they use a 5% increase. The last 5 years have seen annual assessed value increases in excess of 8% per year. Remember that the $1.50/$1000 means that if your property value goes down the taxes you owe will decline. If values continue to rise then your taxes go UP even with the rate staying the same. Please don’t get caught up on the “rate”. You need to ask what the actual taxes will be when your house value goes up. Remember that the State of Washington gives districts a little of $12,000 per student per year currently on top of this money.
Question: Where is the “maintenance” budget? There appears to be little to no money in the past or proposed new levy to maintain schools. We have it on good authority from district sources that there is virtually nothing spent on maintenance and some workers have to buy and use their own tools to perform repairs.
Technology Levy
This is NEW. Since the district is now capped at $1.50/$1000 of assessed value they are carving out their “technology” costs (existing and what they want to spend) and can add that on top…which is what they are doing. To be fair the Vancouver SD did this a few years back and Evergreen is taking this approach with a new levy request as well. Vancouver’s is going UP from $.22 to $.31 (55% increase) and Evergreen is asking for $.37/$1000 of assessed value. So the “real” levy rate isn’t capped at $1.50 but instead $1.50 + any specialized levies.
(1) How much is Hockinson’s tech levy projected to raise? They say $800,000 per year for 2020; 2021 and 2022 = $2,400,000
(2) How many years is the levy for? 3 years
(3) What’s the rate per $1,000 of assessed value? 2020 = $.45; 2021 = $.41; 2022 = $.36
Comment: Every other district is asking for the same amount per year for every year of their levy so this is strange. It was our understanding that they set the rate and it stayed the same for the duration of the levy. Is something amiss?
Are there other local school taxes? Yes. Capital Bonds in place. See the chart to see the rates you are paying for bonds on top of the proposed levy’s and on top of the State school property taxes…and it goes until 2034.
Please take the time to review the documents and then determine whether you will vote yes or no. From our perspective carving out new special levies is a slippery slope. Using “Enrichment” monies to pay the same old bills appears to be illegal and certainly NOT what the Legislature said was their intent. Given the raises given to teachers most districts are projecting they will run deficits within the next couple of years. Since 80% of the money goes to personnel the only place they will be able to balance the budget is to cut people…OR…to raise taxes.
Update: The State Superintendent of Schools (Chris Reykdal) has asked the Legislature to INCREASE the $1.50/$1000 rate to a new target of ~$2.31/$1000. If that were to pass they your “Enrichment” levy cap could go up another 54%. There is also a request for a capital gains tax to raise another $1 billion for schools and then a carbon tax to raise more money.
Update: April 6, 2019 – The legislature is actively considering allowing the $1.50/$1000 Enrichment Levy cap (that went into effect Jan 1, 2019) ro RISE to $2.50/$1000 = 67% increase. Note: Any districts with a levy in place would NOT automatically get an increase to $2.50. The district/Board would need to go back to the taxpayers to ask for the increase.
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