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SAN JUAN ISLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT

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San Juan School District levy passes

posted 8:10 p.m. 09/20/05
Voters approved San Juan Island School District's request for a three-year capital facilities levy with a 67 percent yes vote. There are still votes to count, but San Juan County Auditor Si Stephens is positive the levy has passed.

School Board Chair Boyd Pratt said, "I think it is great. I think it is an endorsement of what the school district is doing." The $1.5 million which will be collected during the three-year levy, will be used to retire $350,000 of debt, for maintenance projects at the schools and to upgrade technology. "It takes the pressure off the general fund," Pratt said. "It means having capital funds spent on capital projects."

The preliminary results show the levy passed in every precinct except Stuart Island. The vote there was 11 against and 8 for the levy request.


PRELIMINARY RESULTS
San Juan Island School District Levy Request
As of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005
Precinct YES NO
San Juan 1 362 218
San Juan 2 271 135
San Juan 3 170 90
San Juan 4 229 139
San Juan 5 232 95
Friday Harbor 1 169 71
Friday Harbor 2 135 51
Stuart 8 11
TOTAL 1576 810

San Juan Island School District asks for new levy

posted 08/08/05
San Juan Island School Board is asking voters to approve a three-year $1.5 million capital projects levy on the September 20 primary election. In order to pass, the levy must be approved by 60 percent of the vote.

According to Superintendent Michael Soltman, the capital projects levy will:

  1. Provide funding for needed repairs and renovations of school buildings and to upgrade equipment.

  2. Provide funding to maintain the District's technology infrastructure, and to provide essential technology upgrades for classrooms, students and faculty.

  3. Retire indebtedness for past emergency capital projects accomplished in the summer of 2002.

General funds can be used for capital needs, but capital funds cannot be used for the day to day operations or the instructional program. When operating funds are used for maintenance and repair, there are less funds for the instructional program. The levy will provide the school district with funding to address essential capital needs. By approving the levy, the voters will enable the district to use more of its general fund for educational programs since there will be another source for the capital needs.

If the levy is approved, the district will have money to take care of current maintenance needs and repay the general fund for some past capital projects.

Soltman said, "Currently the District has no funds in the capital fund to address these issues, and we simply must not use operating funds for these purposes at the expense of our instructional programs, class sizes, and learning opportunities for our students."

The owner of a $400,000 house would pay $92 a year for the levy which would run from 2006 through 2008.

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