School levies vote on February ballot

On Feb. 9, local voters will be asked to approve two levies for Fife School District – the 2011-2014 Educational Programs and Operations Levy (formerly known as the Maintenance and Operations Levy), and a Technology Levy. Neither of these represents new taxes for area homeowners, but together are a continuation of what they have already been paying.

The proposed four-year Educational and Operations Levy replaces the current four-year levy, which expires this coming December.

This levy constitutes about 20 percent of Fife Schools’ operating budget, and with the rates on this levy being lower than those of surrounding school districts ($2.21 per $1,000 of assessed property valuation) taxpayers will get the maximum return on their comparatively modest investment.

This levy will support educational programs in Fife Schools, including some special education services, student transportation needs, additional textbooks, athletics and extracurricular activities.

The second is a Technology Levy, which actually is a reinstatement levy. In 2004, the community approved a four-year Technology Levy for collection in 2005-08. At that time the district promised to stretch the community’s tax dollars to six years rather than four. Fife administrators explained that they attempted to go the extra mile to give back to the community by taking great care in using tax dollars wisely and responsibly.

“We told the voters that if you’ll support it and we stretch it out over six years, we’d come back then – in six years, not four – so we’re doing what we said we would do,” Fife Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve McCammon said.

While the state does not fund technology in the schools, it requires schools to provide technology education – a catch-22 that would put Fife students and teachers in a real bind if the levy were not approved on Feb. 9.

“Technology is absolutely not a luxury,” McCammon stated. “This would be the worst time not to give [students] cutting-edge technology skills because they’ve got to compete in a tough economy, to get into college and then compete for a job in world where [technology skills] are not negotiable. [Employers] are not going to give them a mulligan because they went to a school district where they couldn’t be competitive in technology.”

For detailed information on these two levies, visit http://www.fifeschools.com.

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