April 23rd Special Election: The School Board of Directors approved Resolution NO. 2559 for educational facilities and critical capacity needs. The Resolution authorizes a $120 million 6-year
Capital Projects Levy on all taxable property of the district:
The ballot measure is
HERE. Please vote. Ballots must be postmarked by April 23rd. Drop boxes are open until 8 pm the 23rd. Below, are some of the levy highlights:
Collection Year 2020, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.29 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
Collection Year 2021, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.28 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
Collection Year 2022, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.27 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
Collection Year 2023, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.26 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
Collection Year 2024, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.25 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
Collection Year 2025, Levy Rate/$1,000 Assessed Value $0.25 Levy Amount: $20,000,000
"The District requests voter approval of a Capital Projects levy to enable the district to pay for safety and security measures and critical classroom needs not funded by the state and needed to meet current and future educational programs for its students. The district has grown by over 6,000 students in the last 10 years and expects to enroll 2,000 more students by 2022.
These funds would be deposited in the Capital Projects Fund to pay for district-wide safety and security improvements; classroom additions at Lake Washington High School, including an auxiliary gym and commons; classroom additions at Carson, Franklin, Rose Hill and Twain Elementary Schools, including expansion of core facilities.
Passage of this proposition would allow a levy of $20 million per year over the next six years. If authorized by the voters and based on current assessed valuation information, estimated levy rates would be an average of $0.27 per thousand of assessed valuation beginning in 2020.
This amount will be offset by a reduction in the debt service levy rate due to past bonds being paid off. The exact levy rate shall be adjusted based upon the actual assessed value of the property within the District at the time of the levy."
Exemptions from taxes may be available to homeowners who are 61 or older, or disabled, and who meet certain income requirements. For more information, call the King County Department of Assessments 206-296-3920.
During the 6-year $120M levy period, the average tax of $0.27/$1000
on property assessed at $700,000 = $189/year.
In thinking about the $345M EvergeenHealth 20-year bond, I can accept a need for seismic updates, a new critical care unit and enhanced maternity center but why couldn’t they tease out a million dollars for psychiatric care for which we have none? A million dollars could pay for an out-patient psychiatric clinic in one or more key district cities like Kenmore. Overhead for these clinics is lower than urgent care facilities which need expensive equipment like ultrasound and more extensive infrastructure. Full service psychiatric nurses can perform just as a psychiatrist but at half the cost. Evergreen has significant revenue and should be able to pay for these nurses, just as they do for nurses at their urgent cares. It appears, money spent enhancing the maternity center (which we already have) makes the $345 bond more palatable than mental health care. This saddens me. One in five Americans have a mental health condition according to the National Institute of Mental Health. As our community hospital, EvergreenHealth should take care of them. All said and done, I will vote "YES" on Proposition 1 because I feel the expense is very low considering all that we are getting; and I want to support our community hospital. 
OPINION: The Lake Washington School District Central Leadership Team and some administrator salaries are too high; the end result, our students and educators are somewhat impacted by misuse of these public funds.
