Longview School Board to vote on levy tonight

Longview — The Longview School Board is expected to vote on a replacement levy authorization at tonight’s meeting, as well as hear reports on enrollment and the last school year.

The district needs to replace its current operations and educational programs levy, which will expire next year and which is the district’s second largest source of funding. The levy is not the same thing as the district’s bond measure that was on the Nov. 5 ballot. This levy provides funding for staff, classroom materials, staff training and all extra-curricular activities.

In two special meetings in the past two weeks, the board discussed three central questions: When to put the replacement levy on the ballot, how long the levy should be run for, and how much to run the levy for.

The talks suggested that the board prefers to put the replacement request on the February 2020 ballot, and for the levy to be for four years.

According to district documents, the board is also leaning toward an approximate tax rate of $2.22 per $1,000 of assessed value, but a final decision will be made at tonight’s meeting.

If chosen, that rate would be higher than last year’s rate, which the McCleary decision capped at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, but lower than the year before the McCleary decision, when the rate was $3.23 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The board is also scheduled to hear a report detailing November’s enrollment levels, which are down slightly from October’s count but still higher than projected, and an end of year report for the 2018-2019 year.