More news from Olympia

Budget Blog

5/7/2009

Word came out today that the legislature is done for the year. There will be no special session. There was one bill that was under consideration that was an important one for our district and many others. It concerned protecting the levy base. That bill is now dead for this year.

The amount we can collect from the local property tax levy is based on a percentage of the money the district gets from the state for basic education. Since this year's state budget has reduced that amount, we will be getting the same sized slice but it will be of a smaller pie. So not only will we get less money from the state, they will prevent us from collecting as much money in the local levy as a result.

Fortunately, the lid on levy collections has a built in lag time. The amount we can collect this year is based on what we got last year from the state. So next year will be based on this year. That means we have a reprieve: our levy collections next year will be what we budgeted.

It's 2011 that becomes the concern. If the legislature doesn't do anything next spring, we could be facing one more round of budget cuts, for the 2010-2011 school year. At this point, the idea of any more cuts is something I just don't even want to think about.

That's one more reason for parents, staff and community members to keep an eye on what happens in Olympia.

Posted at 5:07 PM by Reith, Kathryn | Category: School funding | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (1)

Comments

HB1776

I have called and writtten my state Rep and State Senator. I urge other parents to do the same. I received an email response from my Senator and a phone call from Rep Kagi.

Rep Kagi let me know that she has received many phone calls and emails from parents, but it is important that we keep the pressure on our elected officials.

And I while I don't mean to be overly partisan here, those in districts with Republican representation REALLY need to call. EVERY SINGLE Republican state rep spoke against this bill which caused it from getting to a vote.

I let Rep Kagi know that if this kind of filbustering is going to happen next session that the bill needs to come up earlier in the session instead of the 11th hour.

at 5/19/2009 10:17 PM

Add Comment

Items on this list require content approval. Your submission will not appear in public views until approved by someone with proper rights. More information on content approval.

Alias *

E-Mail

Title

Body *

Acknowledgement *

I have read the comment policy

Attachments

You can find LWSD blog comment policy at this link Comment Policy.

Note: Your E-mail will not be published with your comment.