The Port Townsend School Board unanimously approved sending two school levies to the ballot next year during their meeting late last week.

The call for the two levies, education programs and operations levy along with the capital levy, were both approved 5-0 by board members.

The measures will now go to Jefferson County for placement on the February 2022 ballot.

“The levies bring necessary funds to continue grant funds we have,” said Linda Rosenbury, superintendent for the school district.

Revenues from the levies, she said, will support “education programs and school supplies not funded by the state.”

Additionally, the education programs and operations levy subsidizes school food, supports special education programs, funds many extracurricular and co-curricular activities, and more.

Property tax levies are a necessary component of school funding, given the limited amount the state devotes to education, officials said.

“The state doesn’t fund at the level that community members want for the children,” Rosenbury said.

As for the capital levy, Rosenbury hopes to use the potential funds to improve buildings and campuses of schools in Port Townsend.

“The capital levy will be very helpful for upgrades at [school] facilities and with solar panels,” she said.

Rosenbury is excited to potentially add new solar panels to Salish Coast Elementary School, and added they will pay off as a great source of renewable energy.

Both levies will be voted on by residents within the school district in the upcoming special election on Feb. 8.

The three-year levies will run from 2023 through 2025, if approved by voters.

For the educational programs and operations levy, property tax rates will be 90 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2023, 86 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation in 2024, and 79 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value in 2025.

The levy is expected to bring in funds of $3.45 million in 2023, $3.55 million in 2024, and $3.53 million in 2025.

The capital projects levy will start at 46 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation for 2023, increase to 48 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value in 2024, and drop to 45 cents per $1,000 in property valuation in the final year.

The capital levy will raise an estimated $1.8 million in 2023, then $2 million in 2024. In the final year, $2 million will be collected for capital projects.

The school district’s current levy rates are set to expire after 2022.

For 2022, the education programs and operations levy is $1.15 per $1,000 in assessed property value, while the capital projects levy is 40 cents per $1,000 in assessed valuation.