Shoreline School District voters showed the same commitment to the district on Feb. 7 as they have shown for more than a decade.
A replacement maintenance and operations levy and a $149.5 million bond package appears to have been approved by voters.
“We’re feeling very positive,” Superintendent Jim Welsh said. “This was something we anticipated, given the history of how the voters in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park have supported their schools.”
As of the final count on election night, the replacement levy was passing with 71.44 percent yes votes. The bond measure had received 67.43 percent yes votes. Both needed a 60-percent supermajority to pass.
It had been 12 years since the district asked voters to approve a bond package, Welsh said.
The money for the bond will be put toward upgrading the facilities at many sites in the district.
Synthetic turf will be installed at the district’s secondary schools. Safety upgrades, such as seismic retrofitting and security fences, will also be made throughout the district.
In addition, the bond package will provide an expansion of the district’s laptop initiative, which provides access to a laptop for every student in grades five-12.
Voters said they had no problem approving both measures.
“I voted yes for both because I want my grandchildren to be well educated,” Shoreline resident Jeanette Willis said. “I want to be assured that when I’m old and gray we have well-educated people running the country.”
The levy voters approved replaces one that is set to expire this year.
Levy dollars help fund basic education programs, including salaries for teachers and instructional materials and supplies. Funds will also be used to support extra-curricular student activities and special education, gifted, remedial and vocational education programs.
Voter-approved levy dollars account for about 20 percent of the district’s operating budget.
Shoreline resident Rob Carver said he is engaged to a teacher in the district. The replacement levy was what brought him out to vote, he said.
“(Teachers) don’t get paid as much as they should,” he said.
According to the school district, property owners within the district will need to boost property tax rates an additional 75 cents to $4.82 per $1,000 of assessed value to fund the bond. This means that a person with a $300,000 home would pay $1,446 per year in school taxes, which is $225 more per year than is being paid now.
“On behalf of the school district, I have to say how grateful we are to our voters,” Welsh said. “We’re deeply touched by their support.”
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