Two Clark County school districts will place levies on the April 22 ballot after prior funding measures failed in February’s election.
Hockinson’s 21-year, $87 million bond failed with 53.08 percent, or 1,990 votes, on Feb. 11. The district is now attempting a school safety and security capital levy. Battle Ground will again try for an educational programs and operations replacement levy, after it failed in February by only 60 votes.
Levies require a simple majority to pass and are one to six years in length. Bonds are repaid with property taxes over as many as 40 years and must be approved by a 60 percent supermajority.
Hockinson school board members at their Thursday special board meeting approved the six-year levy for the April ballot, before Clark County’s resolution deadline Friday.
If approved, from 2026 to 2031, the district would collect about $12.7 million to fund safety improvements, including automatic lockdown capabilities and security upgrades at Hockinson Heights Elementary School, with no tax rate increase, according to a Hockinson news release.
For 2025, Hockinson residents’ tax rate is $3.05 for the existing bond and operations levy. Next year, if the capital levy is approved, the tax rate would still be $3.05 (66 cents for the capital levy, $1.69 for the operations levy and 70 cents for the bond) per $1,000 of assessed property value, according to the district’s webpage.
The owner of a $500,000 home would pay $1,525 in annual property taxes in 2026, if the capital levy is approved.
At Battle Ground’s Feb. 19 special board meeting, the board members agreed to give the replacement operations levy a second chance to be approved.
The levy would continue to fund student educational programs and operations expenses not funded by the state, including student safety, instructional and support staff, small classes, curriculum, nursing and more, according to the district’s resolution.
The four-year levy would replace the existing operations levy, which ends in 2025. The new levy would begin collections in 2026 and raise about $166.3 million with an estimated tax rate of $1.95 per $1,000 of assessed property value each year.
If the replacement levy is approved, the owner of a $500,000 home would pay an estimated $1,205 in annual property taxes, including the existing three-year technology capital levy approved by voters in February 2024.
