What you can expect to pay for schools this year — and why

An overhaul of the state education funding system means Tri-City taxpayers soon should be shelling out less for their local schools.

They’ll see a bump in state property taxes this year to help Washington meet its obligation to fully fund basic education. But starting in 2019, local school levy bills should drop.

That’s because the Legislature capped the levy rate for school districts at $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value starting next year — and Tri-City property owners pay more than twice that rate now.

School districts across the Mid-Columbia are proposing levies — at that lower rate — in the election next month. They’ll replace existing levies that expire this year.

Richland, Pasco, Kennewick, Prosser and Grandview have four-year levies on the Feb. 13 ballot.

Kiona-Benton City, Finley, Kahlotus, North Franklin and Washtucna are proposing two-year levies.

Columbia-Burbank also has a levy on the February ballot, although it’s taking a different approach than its neighboring districts.

It’s asking voters to approve a rate of about $3.30 per $1,000 of assessed value. However, unless the state rolls back the cap, the district only will be able to collect $1.50 per $1,000.

Levy ballots will be mailed this week.

How will the changes affect me?

So, what will the change look like for taxpayers?

This year, the Richland, Pasco and Kennewick districts have levy rates of more than $3 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Kennewick’s is $3.37, Richland’s $3.44 and Pasco’s $3.95.

That means with Kennewick’s current levy rate, someone who owns a $200,000 home will pay about $56 a month to help support schools.

But when the rate drops in 2019 to the $1.50 per $1,000 cap, that same homeowner will pay $25 per month.

In the February election, a few districts — including Kennewick and Richland — also are proposing technology levies, at a rate of about 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Those levies will help the districts with technology needs.

The combined levy rate in those districts will be an estimated $2 per $1,000 of assessed value — still far less than the current rates. At the combined rate, the owner of a $200,000 home would pay about $33 a month.

Even with the state property tax increase, local taxpayers still should feel less of a hit to the pocketbook.

In Benton County, the state property tax bump will be $1.12 per $1,000 of assessed value this year, said Benton County Assessor Bill Spencer.

Add that to the new 2019 levy rates and it’s still less than what taxpayers are shelling out now for local schools. And the $1.12 per $1,000 could go down after this year, Spencer said.

Franklin County’s state property tax increase for this year wasn’t available.

Why the changes?

Levies bridge the gap between state and federal funding for education and school districts’ actual costs.

Last year, state lawmakers agreed to overhaul the education funding system in response to the state Supreme Court’s 2012 McCleary decision.

In that ruling, justices said the state was failing in its constitutional duty to fully fund basic education and was relying too much on local levies.

So lawmakers created a plan to invest about $7 billion in public education over four years, including through the state property tax increase. The local levy cap also was enacted.

Need for more flexibility

Local taxpayers should see savings, but what about districts’ bottom lines?

Tri-City superintendents said it will be important for lawmakers to add some more flexibility.

The state apportionment will have strings, and so will levy money.

Under the old rules, districts had a wide berth when it came to how they could spend levy dollars. The changes will restrict that levy money to costs that aren’t considered basic education, since the state is supposed to be covering that.

The state also is doing away with a formula called “staff mix,” which provided more money to districts with lots of experienced teachers to help cover their pay — a change that will hurt some local districts.

Tri-City superintendents have been meeting with local legislators about the challenges, and they said they’re hopeful.

“They’re listening to us and working with us to find solutions,” Kennewick Superintendent Dave Bond said.

Legislators “had a tough job to do. There’s never been this kind of change in education. It’s been a heavy lift,” Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney said, adding that local lawmakers have been receptive.

Different name, same need

Levy dollars will continue to be critical to keeping schools operating at the level the community expects, local education leaders said.

Local districts will use levy money for everything from professional development to security staff, nurses, special education support, curriculum, fine art, sports and other extra-curricular activities.

They’re no longer being called Maintenance & Operations levies; the new name is Educational Programs & Operations levies.

They remain a replacement tax, not a new tax — replacing, at a lower rate, the local support that Mid-Columbia voters have approved for years.

“It’s a continuation and a replacement of something our local citizens have supported for a long time,” Richland Superintendent Rick Schulte said.

“Some of the details are different, but fundamentally it’s a replacement levy that people are used to.”

This story was originally published January 21, 2018 at 2:55 PM with the headline "What you can expect to pay for schools this year — and why."