Despite a troubled economy, educators are banking on local voters’ longtime support for schools when they go to the polls Feb. 9 to consider a pair of levies on the ballot.
The Mukilteo School District needs approval of the ongoing Maintenance and Operations Levy, which covers about a fifth of the annual budget, and a six-year Capital Projects Fund Levy, to repair deteriorating facilities.

M&O Levy needs replacement
The M&O Levy funds many programs that aren’t covered by the state, which provides about 64 percent of the district’s budget to cover constitutionally-required “basic education.”
Those programs include all the funding for sports and extracurricular activities, teachers for electives in secondary schools, and music and PE at elementary schools.

With the state facing a projected $2.6 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, schools likely will see state funding decline, putting added pressure on educators to patch their own vulnerable budgets.

The M&O levy already supplements salaries for teachers, classified employees and administrators because of state under-funding of salaries. Should the M&O levy be rejected by voters, cuts in staff at all levels would be on the table.

Also vulnerable are funds for Special Education, bus services, and help for English language learners.
In fact, warns school board president Judy Schwab, even if the M&O levy passes, there probably will be budget cuts.

“It’s daunting this year,” Schwab said. “As a school board member, I can see the needs, and I can see the funds, and they don’t match up.
“We have great schools here, and we’re struggling to keep up that excellence.”

Mukilteo district voters have traditionally been very supportive of the M&O levy; it generally passes the 50 percent plus 1 needed for approval by 8-10 percentage points.
Because it replaces an existing levy, property owners would see a small increase in that portion of their property taxes – about $68 per year, for example, for a home valued at $400,000.

Schools are falling apart
A harder sell may be the $20 million Capital Projects Levy, which the district cobbled together after failing to win the supermajority needed for passage of a $139 million bond measure in 2008.
The bond measure covered a broad range of facility upgrades and additions, including a new elementary school to house projected growth.

A small silver lining on the recession cloud has turned out to be slower growth, and projections have been revised showing the district can make do without a new school for a few more years.
But several of the schools are in dire need of repair. Educators say they need the funds to cover “basic” building maintenance repairs over the next six years, the lifespan of the levy.

Among the maintenance and repairs the levy would cover are:
• Roof replacements: The roofs at Kamiak High and Fairmount and Discovery elementaries, in particular, need attention. Kamiak has numerous leaks. At Discovery, crews had to stop pressure washing the roof because pieces started flying off.
• Replacement of boilers and pipes: The boilers at Voyager and other schools repeatedly have caused fire alarms to sound, bringing school to a halt as students and staff evacuate.
• Replace portables older than 20 years
• Replace flooring/carpeting
• HVAC systems: the HVAC systems at nearly all the schools need upgrading or repairs. At Kamiak, crews had to shut down the heating system altogether while working on the boiler.
• Install key card entry systems: Over the years, keys to schools have disappeared, resulting in compromises during lockdowns and raising concerns about break-ins.
• Update fire and smoke systems
• Replace plumbing for drinking water
• Replace high school tracks
• Replace deteriorated playground equipment

Should the levy fail, the district would dip into it’s reserves, then turn to the general fund, a worst-case scenario.
“We have some capital funds in reserve,” said Debra Fulton, executive director of District Services. “But when they’re gone, we’d have to use general funds.”

Fulton said the needs far outweigh the $20 million being sought.
“It’s big – more than $100 million,” Fulton said.

Passage would mean a temporary and minimal increase in property taxes. Should voters OK the M&O levy but reject the Capital Projects levy, their property taxes would be 14 cents per $1,000 less than if both levies pass.

If both measures pass, educators project that the tax rate would increase in 2011, but then decline in the next couple of years so that by 2013 it actually would be lower than the current rate.

The rate in 2010 for all Mukilteo School District taxes is $3.62 per $1,000 of assessed valuation; by 2013 it is projected to drop to $3.45, in part because other components of the total tax rate will be going down over the next few years.