By now, ballots have arrived in the mail and voters throughout Port Townsend School District No. 50 are considering whether or not to approve the district’s request for a four-year replacement levy.

Centered in Port Townsend, the school district meanders beyond city boundaries to include Cape George, Kala Point, Four Corners, Discovery Bay, extending almost to Gardiner.

Almost 7,000 ballots were mailed last week in a district where 1,200 students from preschool to 12th grade are served.

As voters consider Proposition No. 1 – Port Townsend School District No. 50, Replacement Educational Programs and Operations Levy – we’d like to remind everyone: This is not a new tax.

This levy is a continuation of the district’s maintenance-and-operation levy that voters in this area have approved without fail for many, many years.

Since the 1970s, school districts have had to run – and pass – local school levies to augment state and federal funding. In the last 20 years, reliance on levy funds has sharply increased. Today, basic services — not just extras and enhancements — but teachers, books, supplies, libraries, food, computers/technology, utilities, insurance, transportation, etc. are all at least partially funded by levies, making it difficult to find much of anything in a school budget that isn’t.

One-quarter of the school district’s annual budget is composed of levy funds.

To keep rates as level as possible for property owners, the estimated 2016 levy rate, tied to valuation and property tax, is expected to be about $1.58 per $1,000 of valuation (the same as it was in 2014). Property owners with a house valued at $250,000 would pay an estimated $395 in 2016. Over a four-year period, the estimated tax may increase to $1.66 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

We are fortunate to live in a community that voices its support for school levies. In December, the City Council was first to unanimously pass a resolution endorsing this school levy. In January, Port Townsend’s school board passed a resolution allowing it to endorse and advocate for its own levy resolution. Last week, the Jefferson Healthcare hospital commission also voiced its support for this school measure.

These reinforcements, along with the Port Townsend Education Association, representing 70 members, as well as the Jefferson County Association of Realtors, representing 100 members, give a nod to the important place that schools hold in our community.

Not passing this levy is unthinkable. We are a community that values education, values children and values the place we all call home. Someone, somewhere paid for each of us. Please join the school board in voting yes by Feb. 10 for this crucial measure.

For more information, please visit the school district website at

ptschools.org.

Thank you in advance for your support.

(Holley Carlson is school board chair of the Port Townsend School District. She also is a real estate agent and has two children at Blue Heron Middle School.)