Riverview School District to place levies on February ballot.
At the October 27, 2009 School Board Meeting, the Riverview School District Board of Directors approved three levies for the February 2010 ballot: a renewal of the 4-year Educational Programs Maintenance and Operations Levy for basic operations of schools; a renewal of the 4-year Technology Levy for educational technology; and a 2-year Transportation Levy for new buses.
While the District usually runs only two replacement levies every four years, the School Board felt that a Transportation Levy was needed at this time for new school buses and to maximize the state reimbursement monies for bus depreciation. The last Transportation Levy was eight years ago in 2002.
The Replacement Educational Programs Maintenance and Operations Levy would continue to bridge the 20 percent gap between what the state and federal government allocates for basic education and what is required to fund the programs currently offered in Riverview. The replacement maintenance and operations levy rates are estimated at $1.95 per $1000 in assessed home value in 2011 to $2.06 per $1000 in assessed home value in 2014. These levy dollars pay for educational programs and school operation costs, including additional classroom teachers to maintain class sizes, librarians, music specialists, physical education specialists, counselors, gifted and remediation programs, special education services, educational assistants, summer school, staff training, textbooks, bus drivers and custodial services, fuel, maintenance, extracurricular and athletic programs, coaches and advisors, as well as administrative and other support staff.
School Board President, Greg Bawden shared, “I like to talk about our district's "momentum." Our success in the classrooms has brought us increased community support. The tremendous support we've seen for the M&O levy in the past is a perfect example of this momentum. These levy dollars don't provide "extras." The M&O Levy helps us provide essential educational services that are vital to the successful completion of our mission: to educate children.”
As technology plays an increasingly important role in our classrooms as well as in our business and support staff practices, the District must continue funding through the levy process as the State does not currently provide any direct funding for technology. This Replacement Technology Levy would augment the educational environment by replacing existing outdated technology, enhancing classroom technologies and improving emergency communications and safety systems. The Replacement Technology Levy also continues funding for computer technicians, technology integration specialists, and professional staff development to maximize student learning and interaction. The technology levy estimated rate is 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value in 2011, down to 30 cents per $1,000 in home value in 2014.
The two-year Transportation Levy will generate enough revenue together with the state reimbursement dollars to keep the fleet up to date for a ten-year period. The plan is to purchase 23 new buses over ten years. The two-year levy revenue of $500,000 represents only 17% of the estimated $2,894,800 needed for the 23 bus acquisitions. The Transportation Levy rate is estimated at 8 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value for each of the two years.