There is a lot of confusion and more than a few questions about the impact the Legislatures property tax changes will have on school districts.
We’ve gathered information that may be helpful. The links below allow you to look at any district in Washington State to see what the funding impact is projected to be. There are a couple of caveats:
- The State Property tax rate assumes it went from $1.98 per $1000 of assessed value to $2.70 per $1000. This may or may not be the case in your County. We focused our highlights on the ten (10) school districts in Southwest Washington where the rate is actually $2.89 per $1000
- The highlighted districts are the ten (10) in SWW
Without further ado let’s look at the documents and discuss what they show:
Tax Rates – soK12TaxRates_0629
- 2018 to 2021 shows similarity throughout the State with slight growth over time.
- Remember that in Clark County this number is low because our rate is $2.89 vs $2.70 for the State as a whole
- This presumes that the levy stays at $1.50/$1000. The State Superintendent (as of Feb 24, 2018) has asked that it be raised to a target of $2.31/$1000
Total Funding – soK12TotalFunding_0629
- We focused on the 2nd column from the right
- This column shows a comparison of change from 2016-17 to 2020-21
- In Clark County the ten (10) districts show the following:
- Battle Ground +22%
- Camas +32%
- Evergreen +25%
- Green Mountain +26%
- Hockinson +24%
- LaCenter +24%
- Ridgefield +35%
- Vancouver +27%
- Washougal +22%
- Woodland +30%
Funding per pupil – soK12PerPupil_0629
- This table breaks down the funding per student starting in the 2016-17 school year going through 2020-21
- Here’s the breakdown (on a percentage change basis) by school district. You can see the dollar amount by year in the chart.
- Battle Ground +18%
- Camas +27%
- Evergreen +20%
- Green Mountain +21%
- Hockinson +20%
- LaCenter +19%
- Ridgefield +30%
- Vancouver +22%
- Washougal +18%
- Woodland +25%
What other factors are impacted by the changes?
Levy’s – The new target cap is $1.50 per $1000. That money can only be used for “enrichments”. Here’s a link to a discussion about what “enrichments” may mean: http://billsblog-wasa.weebly.com/blog-entries/enrichment-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder
Bond’s – Each district must raise it’s own money. The State will continue to provide “some” funding help replace facilities that meet certain rules
Tax Rates vs. Taxes – When discussion is focused on “tax rates” be careful NOT to believe your “taxes” won’t go up. Since a number of the taxes are based on assessed value your taxes will go up if your assessed value goes up even if your tax rate stays unchanged. By the same token if your property’s assessed value declines your taxes would drop.
If you have questions or comments please contact us.