UPDATE: Shoreline School Board Passes $89.6 Million Budget for 2011-12

Editor's note: Correction regarding the levy amounts and cost. See below.

The Shoreline School Board of Directors unanimously passed the district's budget for the 2011-12 school year Monday night, Aug. 29, electing to tap some of its reserves to shore up K-4 class sizes.

The $89,632,765 general fund budget supplies funds for the day-to-day operation the school district and its programs and runs from Sept. 1, 2011 to Aug. 31, 2012. The budget for this year is about the same as last year's budget.

But the district is getting less money from the state to operate this school year and federal money that filled the gap has dried up. Over the last three years the district has lost nearly $5 to $6 million annually in state funding, said deputy superintendent Marcia Harris. 

The district decided that keeping K-4 class sizes smaller was a priority so for next year about $4 million was taken out of district reserves to support that and other programs lost when I-728 money was cut.

The district's enrollment has also declined by about 157 students, to 8,600 for the coming school year, which also meant less state money, said spokesman Craig Degginger. 

The district saved some money this year by deciding not to adopt a new high school science curriculum until next year, Harris said.

Editor's note: Here's the original levy language which I based on an old story but district spokesman Craig Degginger, pointed out that this changed last month.

The district will be asking voters in November to support a supplemental levy that will raise $1.2 million per year from 2012 to 2014, for a total of $3.6 million.

The levy, if passed, would help replace some of the money that the district has not been receiving from the state, Harris said.

The levy would raise property taxes by about 15 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, meaning an owner of a home assessed at $400,000 would pay about $60 more in property taxes.

Here's what it is now, courtesy of the Shoreline School District. 

Passage of Proposition 1 would allow the levy of $1.3 million in property taxes in 2012, the levy of $1.4 million in 2013, and $1.5 million in 2014. If voters pass the levy based on current assessed valuation information, the estimated levy rates per $1,000 of assessed value would be 9 cents per $1,000 in 2012, 9 cents per $1,000 in 2013 and 10 cents per $1,000 in 2014. 

The measure requires a simple majority for passage. Current estimates suggest that such a measure would increase rates about $36 a year for a home valued at $400,000.