Two Peninsula School Levies on February Ballot

The Peninsula School District board of directors voted at its November 9 meeting to put two property tax levies to the voters in an election scheduled for Feb. 14, 2023.

Proposition 1 is a three-year Replacement Educational Programs and Operations Levy to replace the current one, which will expire at the end of 2023. The operations levy makes up approximately 18% of the district’s budget for things not fully funded by the state, including school nurses, athletics, arts and preventive maintenance. The estimated tax rate starts at $1.13 per $1,000 of property value in 2024, raising about $27 million in its first year, and decreasing by one cent in each of the following years.

Proposition 2 is a new six-year Safety, Security and Technology Levy to pay for building access controls, cameras and communications, cybersecurity and classroom devices. The rate for this levy would be 0.25 cents per $1,000 of property value, raising $6 million in its first year.

In 2019, voters approved a $198.55 million school construction bond, the first in two decades, used to build new schools and refurbish old ones. PSD said the combined rates of both school levies plus the existing bond is estimated to be $1.82 per $1,000 in 2024, lower than this year’s levy-plus-bond rate of $2.01 in 2022.