Technology Levy: Quick Facts
- Schools need funding to provide and maintain a basic level of student access to technology. The state legislature does not regularly fund technology for schools.
- The district has tried to keep up with the increasing need for technology using scarce resources from the district’s general fund, and by cobbling together occasional funding from grants, but these sources are not adequate to maintain basic technology resources.
- The Port Angeles School District last placed a technology levy on the ballot on February 8, 2005. It was offered to the public at the same time as the district’s replacement maintenance and operations levy. The voters’ response was 51.64% for the levy, and 48.36% against. A majority of the district’s constituents understood and supported the need for updating and improving the technology used within the district, however a supermajority of 60% was required for approval in 2005.
- The district has computers still in service that are fourteen years old. During a recent routine upgrade of Microsoft Windows® operating software, technicians identified sixty computers district-wide that needed to have hard drive memory replaced because the original hard drives had inadequate capacity to accept the upgrade.
- Presently, the district has approximately 2,000 total computer workstations, including all types and uses of computers. These computer workstations are in classrooms, libraries, the skills center and in lab spaces in the schools. The board’s goal is to have at least one technically current student workstation for every four students. The student-to-workstation ratio across the Port Angeles School District is greater than 5 to 1.
- Today the district does not have adequate funding to provide teachers competitive levels of instructional technology training. Training for teachers is needed no matter what level of technology funding is sought.
- Currently, the district has a reliable network connecting schools, with servers currently adequate to the task. However, the infrastructure (cable and communication units) wears out constantly. Some technology levy dollars will be needed just to keep the network at an appropriate level of functionality.
- School levies positively impact everyone in the community, whether you have children in school or not. Levy dollars remain in our community helping with economic stability and prosperity. Businesses and health professionals who consider relocation to our area consistently say that the quality of our schools is a critical part of the quality of life that attracts them to Port Angeles.
- An exemption is available for qualifying seniors and low-income homeowners. Those interested should contact the County Assessor’s office by phone at 360.417.2000 or email: assessor@co.clallam.wa.us.
Levy questions, comments and suggestions may be sent via email to: levy@portangelesschools.org, or by U.S. Mail to: Superintendent, Port Angeles School District, 216 East Fourth Street, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
Click here to return to Levy News.