SPR s Doug Nadvornick reports.
Fourteen Spokane County school districts have placed measures on the February 9 election ballot. They include Spokane Public Schools’ three-year maintenance and operations levy. That measure would replace the district’s current levy.
In Washington, local property tax levies supplement the basic education funding the state allocates to school districts.
Spokane Superintendent Adam Swinyard says the money allows his district to hire more out-of-the-classroom employees, people such as nurses, librarians and custodians. He says levy money also adds to the state’s special education funding.
“We’ve really become a hub for those services because of the quality of the programming, because of the health care sector in Spokane, the social service network in Spokane. Families move in from western Montana and northern Idaho and northeast Washington. They come and they reside in our district so their students can have that academic experience and there