Yelm Community Schools (YCS) will ask the community once again to pass its educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy as the Board of Directors approved a resolution to place the levy measure on the election ballot in February.
The board unanimously voted to set the collection rate at $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, which is the same rate the district attempted to pass last February before lowering it to $2.25 unsuccessfully in April. YCS will also collect the maximum of 3% assessed property value growth rate each year.
If the measure passes in the winter, the four-year levy would not start until January of 2026, and the district would collect the following amounts over the life of the levy:
2026: $16,600,000
2027: $17,100,000
2028: $17,600,000
2029: $18,125,000
YCS Superintendent Chris Woods said that the levy measure at the approved rates should bring the district out of binding conditions with the state and prevent the state from making authoritative decisions on cuts and staffing decisions.
The school district is currently working alongside the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to help the district balance its budget as its projected ending fund balance was approximately a negative $1.2 million as of August. Woods said OSPI is typically in a supportive role for a couple years, but if the district were to enter a third year in binding conditions, the state would take control.
“One thing that will contribute is how quickly we staff back up from previous staffing ratios, but the priority is going to be a balanced budget first, and then beyond that would be slowly staffing back up,” Woods said. “Based on the timing of the levy, if it’s approved in February, we don’t collect until January (2026). So you think about September, October, November and December of next school year, there’s still no levy dollars, and then all of a sudden in January, we’d start receiving dollars. We can’t staff back up to pre-double [levy] failure numbers in the fall because we can’t afford that.”
The board believes that the approved rates will also respect taxpayers and the burden they already have. Woods said that the 3% assessed property value growth rate is “conservative” as properties have seen a much larger growth in value recently.
“You guys are trying to be mindful of what we need versus going beyond what we need. I think for us, 3% is very conservative,” Woods said. “I think it still puts us in a place where we are still being very tight over the next two years in particular, but it does give us a lot more wiggle room as it relates to staffing levels across the district and then in hopes of seeing some positive movement this coming [legislative] session. With the two of those together, we’d be very hopeful that 3% would get us there.”
A distinction that the district wants to make in terms of how much it collects in levy dollars from taxpayers is that the district doesn’t always collect the full amount that is approved by voters. Each of the past three years, the district has asked for $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, but its actual rate was $2.30 in 2022, $2.02 in 2023 and $2.12 in 2024.
The levy is referred to as an “enrichment levy” by the state, but it funds many basic education activities. The levy pays for many important components within the district, including but not limited to certificated classroom teachers; certificated specialists: art, physical education, music, drama, library, technology, office support; para educators; supervision; special education; nurses; counselors; social workers; school resource officers/safety staff; graduation/career readiness; technology; athletics; extracurricular activities; curriculum materials; and staff training.
