Levy

I want to express my gratitude to the Kittitas community for supporting the passage of our school levy on February 9th.  The passage of the levy will preserve our current level of educational programs and activities for our students, as well as maintain our wonderful facilities.  The levy will support the values our community holds.

I also want to thank those individuals who participated on the levy committee.  Many people sacrificed personal time in their busy schedules to serve on the committee and gave monetary donations.  The time and monetary support these dedicated people provided is greatly appreciated.

The actual assessed property valuation in the school district increased by roughly $40,000,000 from the original conservative estimate we used to determine the levy rates per thousand in our levy information materials.  This increased valuation has resulted in the actual rates per thousand to decrease from $2.94 to $2.69 in the first year and from $3.03 to $2.78 in the second year. Hopefully, these rates will continue to drop as expansion of the wind farm occurs.

These levy rates are very good considering the historical perspective of levy rates for our district.  Levy rates have traditionally averaged over $3 per thousand over the past twenty years. 

There exists some confusion over assessed valuations, tax rates, and district tax collections.  Please remember the following principles:

·         Increase in property values will not increase school district tax collections

·         Changes in property values don’t change the amount of taxes authorized

·         Local school taxes can only be increased by a vote of the people

·         Changing property values will change tax rate, but not tax collection

An individual’s taxes will be based on the assessed value of his or her own property.  If your property value increases at a lower rate than the average increase for the school district, the amount of taxes you pay will decrease.  This is why the increased valuation of the wind farm is such a positive thing for our district, because it lowers the amount of taxes you pay to support local education.

Math Improvement Plan

This year, we have been working to create a cohesive K-12 plan that will improve math performance of Kittitas School District students through innovative thinking and actions supported by the mutual accountability of our community, administration, staff and students. You can read our plan on the District website at ksd403.org under the title Math Improvement Learning Plan.  This plan will guide our work in the coming years as we strive to increase math achievement in the District. 

Thank you again for your support and have a wonderful summer.  Please remember you are always welcome to stop in for a visit or give me a call at 968-3115.

Sincerely,

Monty Sabin