Weinstein proposes levy lid increase for Washington school districts

OLYMPIA – Washington school districts would be able to raise more money through local levies under a bill proposed by Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-41st Legislative District (Eastside suburbs). The legislation would raise the levy lid to 35 percent for all districts beginning Jan. 1, 2008.

Weinstein said he intends the measure to help school districts while Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Washington Learns education task force continues its study of the state’s public education funding formula.

“Our state is in the midst of a long-overdue effort to redefine basic education and update the way we pay for our public schools. In the meantime, we have to acknowledge that the voters in many school districts are willing to approve levies beyond their current limits and should be allowed to do that,” said Weinstein, a member of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Committee. “This session, I’ll be supporting an effort in the Legislature to make a significant down payment on improving student achievement by boosting K-12 funding. Nothing in this bill keeps the Legislature from spending more across-the-board for schools. But we should also take this step to help level what is a very uneven playing field for school districts.”

State law limits how much local money school districts can collect in maintenance and operations levies. Of 296 districts, 205 of them can collect up to 24 percent of the district’s total state and federal revenue each year in the form of taxpayer-approved levies. But a handful of districts are allowed to ask for more levy money, some up to 33 percent, because they were already asking voters for more than 24 percent when the state base lid went into effect, and were “grandfathered” at their higher levy lids.

The grandfathering provision would be eliminated in Weinstein’s bill. The bill also would allow districts that have already approved a levy at their original levy lid percentage to authorize an additional levy up to the 35 percent limit for the remaining years of the original levy.

“Within our own community, the bill would help correct some levy lid inequalities that have caused hardships for Issaquah schools in particular,” Weinstein said. “A higher levy lid would help ease their struggles while the state continues its work to modernize our state funding structure.”

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