Stanwood-Camano School District
Learn about our replacement levy on the Feb. 13 ballot
In this week’s levy update, let’s look at how we compare to neighboring school districts.
Most of the money generated from this replacement levy goes back into the schools for programs and student services such as reducing class sizes, enhancing the level of paraeducator classroom help, allowing for small group intervention, providing adequate supervision of students before/during/after school day, supporting extracurricular activities (such as our athletic programs), helping provide adequate transportation to and from school, and enhancing the level of safety personnel.
The EP&O’s levy rate is estimated to be at $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed property value — or, for the owner of a $500,000 home, about $59 per month. If voters approve this levy, the school district’s total tax rate including all levies and bonds will be lower than it was in 2022, before the Facilities and Tech levy expired.
Total school district tax rates, if voters approve the replacement levy
That means our total tax rate is below neighboring districts such as Snohomish ($4.40) and Marysville ($3.69).
In 2022, we ranked in the bottom half of the 295 school districts (189th) in the state when comparing the tax rate for EP&O levies. Among the 14 Snohomish County school districts, only Edmonds, Darrington, and Index had a lower tax rate for their EP&O levy.
And a quick reminder: A school levy functions differently than state property tax collections. With school levies, voters approve a set, capped amount of money — such as the $16 million in 2025 the district is asking voters to approve. So, if your property's assessed value goes up, the school levy rate goes down so that we don’t collect more than what voters approved for that calendar year — as illustrated with the graphic below.
This levy pays for positions to run programs, which include parts of some administrator salaries. However, the majority of administrative salaries are paid from the General Fund. If the levy fails, all salaries — including administrators — will be included in the discussions surrounding a more formal Budget Reduction process that would include staff and community members.
During the 2022-23 school year, 4.6% of the Stanwood-Camano School District's FTE staff were certificated administrators — a lower percentage than school districts in Lakewood, Arlington, Snohomish, Granite Falls, Sultan, and Index, according to the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction data. In addition, administrative positions were reduced for this school year as part of our 2023-24 Budget Reduction Plan.
In next week’s levy update, we’ll provide more information about the levy as well as an opportunity to submit questions or concerns to be addressed in a future Levy Update email.
Find last week's levy update HERE.