OROVILLE – The Oroville School Board of directors, as well as other schools in the state and region, is once again requesting voters to vote on a replacement Maintenance and Operations Levy at the Feb. 11 election.
The board, along with input from the school administration, is asking for a two-year replacement levy for the same dollar amount as the current levy, as we would like to avoid any tax increases to our community. The amount requested has been the same for the past two levies, the last of which runs through the end of 2014. The advertised rate of $2.40 per thousand is slightly less than the previously advertised per thousand rate of $2.46 as property values have increased slightly from two years ago, but the amount the district collects remains exactly the same, $1.497 million.
Oroville School District voters have a strong history of supporting the M&O levy over the years and our students have benefited greatly because of this support. The M&O levy provides additional money to our district for programs and operations that the state either does not fund or does not fund completely. In our district the levy represents approximately 23 percent of our budget and helps to support and supplement a multitude of items such as technology, transportation, athletics, clubs, food service, personnel, maintenance items, school nurse, and many other things that could not otherwise be funded with state allocation alone.
Another item voters will see on the February ballot is that of redistricting boundaries of board members to create another at-large position. The District #2 board member position has remained vacant since October 2012 when Dave Nutt resigned from the board. Despite advertising regularly for over a year, no written letter of interest has been received. The term for this position was also up for election in November 2013, but no one ran for the position.
Redistricting will allow the board to redraw board director districts into three defined areas where directors must live, and convert the district #2 position into an at-large position, which would allow anybody who lives within the district as a whole to fill it. Three years ago voters overwhelmingly approved a change from five distinct districts to four defined ones and one at-large. The board firmly believes that by converting the District #2 position to an at large position, it will again facilitate more citizen interest in serving on the school board.
More information can be obtained by going to our district’s website (www.oroville.wednet.edu) where you can find many of the answers you might have about the levy or about our schools. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact a board member or call my office at (509) 476-2281 to talk to me directly, as I always enjoy the opportunity to speak with community members.
