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Spokane Public Schools considers sending supplemental levy to voters in April

The supplemental levy would allow the district to increase its local levy tax rate to $2.50 per thousand dollars of assessed tax property value.

SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Public School District's board of directors is discussing the possibility of sending a supplemental levy to voters at a special meeting on Wednesday night.

A spokesperson for Spokane Public Schools said specific details of what the levy would include have not yet been discussed or decided on among district leaders.

The special meeting begins at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and is open to the public.

Last summer, SPS faced a $31 million budget deficit. This forced the district to quickly overhaul their budget for the 2019-2020 school year.

In total, 67 staff members and nine teachers were laid off in the final budget, including several people working as specialists.

SPS recently formed a work-group to look at possible changes in its elementary schools, including changes to specialists that may bring back positions eliminated by the budget.

Specialists include teachers other than the students' homeroom teachers that teach subjects such as art and science.

RELATED: Spokane Public Schools considering changes, could bring back specialist positions

Recent documents on the Spokane School Board’s website say the district has reviewed maintenance level spending and estimated resources needed to “lift the contract workload suspension,” and restore other services and programs cut by the district.

School board documents say that the supplemental levy would allow the district to increase its local levy tax rate to $2.50 per thousand dollars of assessed tax property value, which is the maximum tax rate allowed by law.

The rate reflects a difference $0.90 per thousand of assessed property value.

If voters were to authorize a supplemental levy in April, tax collection would begin on Jan. 1, 2021, documents say. It would provide additional revenue to help address the estimated budget gap for the 2020-2021 school year.

A district spokesperson said the board is not expected to take action on any agenda items, including that related to a supplemental levy, at Wednesday night's meeting.

The board must decide on filing for a supplemental levy by Feb. 28 before it would be sent to voters in April. 

The next regularly scheduled school board meeting is set for Feb. 26. 

RELATED: Spokane Public Schools passes $461.9M budget, reduce layoffs to nine

RELATED: Spokane Public Schools could see changes in art and science curriculum

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