On February 13 voters in Skagit County voted in order to pass a bill that included spending bills for the funding of our schools. Sedro-Woolley requested the bond in order to complete construction of the Evergreen Elementary school and improve other buildings in the district while the levy was to be used to fund the budget for teacher salary, transportation, etc.

  The bond that failed to pass included 79 million in funding and received 47.47 percent approval and 52.53 percent disapproval from our community, the levy passed with 51.49 percent approval and a nay vote of 48.51 percent.

  The bond according to GoSkagit was going to be used to replace the elementary school due to the poor set up the old building had and safety concern for students as they had to traverse multiple classrooms in order to get to an exit. They also planned to use that money to add new roofs, renovations, etc. The superintendent of Sedro-Woolley School District has talked about going back and “rethinking” the proposal in order to get the bond passed.

  The levy meanwhile passed by a margin of 159 votes or 2.98 percent according to the Skagit Valley Elections Department, a big chunk of the schools budget. As a result property owners will see a rise of tax on property, $1.49 per $1000 of property value will be paid by property owners. These fund will be collected by the state and then distributed to the school.

  According to Mrs. Carlton, SWHS staff, “The government does not provide enough funding to provide students with a well rounded education.”

  “By supporting schools in your community, it will attract more families. It will protect your investment as a homeowner,” Carlton says.

  Sedro-Woolley has asked the voters to increase the cap at which they can tax property owners. If this does pass it will raise the cap from 1.49$ per $1000 to $3.90 per $1000 of assessed property value. This is to make sure programs are kept open such as specific sevices for students with disabilities, repairs, etc.