Another property tax increase proposal might be on your ballot in May. The Bend-La Pine School board discussed imposing an operational levy on the voters on Tuesday night.
“We have a lot of things that our community wants us to provide in our schools, but we don’t actually have the state funding to be able to do those,” said board chair Melissa Barnes Dholakia.
The school board looked at priorities in consultant surveys to get to their $1 per $1,000 assessed value levy proposal.
“Expanding our career and our txechnical pathways so that our kids can really explore their passions, their purpose and their pathways for their future. Making sure that we maintain those small class sizes that we have and really helping our struggling students,” Barnes Dholakia said.
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Just a couple of years back, voters passed a bond issue to renovate Bend Senior High School. That bond money could only be used for buildings. This levy is different.
“A bond provides for money for facilities, for structures, for capital improvements. A levy allows us to invest in programs and in people,” Barnes Dholakia said.
The levy would provide approximately $23 million in the first year.
“I see this as this next step in really ensuring that our schools are world-class, that our kids are thriving academically, they’re being known well, and that they’re really working on that passion, purpose, and plan for their future,” Barnes Dholakia said.
The board still needs to make a final decision on whether to put the property tax levy on the voters in May. That decision will happen at the end of the month.
