Orcas school to submit two levies — One will upgrade technology, the other is for maintenance and operations

The Orcas Island School District likely will submit two levies to local voters next March.

One will be for maintenance and operations, while the other, Superintendent Barry Acker said, will enable the school district to upgrade its technology.

Local districts throughout the state have been submitting maintenance and operations levies for years because state, federal and grant funding cannot cover all of each school’s costs. In Orcas’ case, the outside funding covers only about 82 percent of its total revenue needs. The rest, the district contends, will have to be made up by local voters.

The technology levy will be for one year only, and will enable the school to upgrade, expand, and repair its computers and related items. Local voters approved a one-year technology levy for $350,000 back in 1998.

The district has yet to determine exactly how the levy dollars will be used, and how much money will be sought. Committees within the district are now addressing those matters, and Acker intends to spell out how much money will be needed, and how it will be used, when the school board next meets on Dec. 19. The board is expected to formally agree at that meeting to submit both levies to the voters in March 2002.

The two levies will require a 60 percent “yes” vote for approval, plus a turnout of at least 40 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the November elections. They’ll all be vote-by-mail elections.

Lopez and San Juan will also be submitting maintenance and operations levies to their respective constituencies in March.

The main reason why the three districts will be submitting their levies on a single date is to focus maximum attention throughout the county on the need for the levies. “We hope for a lot of media coverage,” Acker said.

The vote by mail will also save the districts money, San Juan County Elections Supervisor Sandra Gillespie says, because there won’t be the cost of poll workers and rental of polling sites.

Further, by going together, the three districts will save additional money by sharing the cost of holding the election.

— Ted Grossman is Editor of islandssounder.com and The Islands’ Sounder. He can be reached at (360) 376-4500 or email.

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