A new bill signed by the governor has paved the way for the Vashon Island School District to collect much more in property taxes for school purposes — just in time for the District’s budgeting process.
VISD is set to take a second reading of its 2025-2026 budget on June 12. It coincides with a bill passed in the Legislature this year that will allow the district to collect more of they money Vashon taxpayers voted to allow it to collect — more than $700,000 more next year alone.
Flashback: Our current chapter of the complicated story behind school funding in Washington State goes back nearly two decades.
Washington State was sued in 2007 for failing to fairly fund “basic education” for all students, because districts use local property tax levies to make up the gap between state funding and their total needs, and poorer districts couldn’t collect as much. That lawsuit is colloquially named after the McCleary family, one of the lead plaintiffs.
It ultimately led to the state Supreme Court’s 2012 “McCleary” decision, which ordered the state to end disparities between poorer and richer districts by fully funding the cost of a “basic education.” The legislature’s 2017 McCleary fix increased the state property tax and reduced the amount of tax that districts could collect locally — $2.5 per $1,000 of assessed value or $2,500 — whichever was lower — tied to inflation.
In 2018, the state Supreme Court found the state to finally be in compliance with its 2012 decision.
But the “McCleary fix” hasn’t fixed everything. David S. Knight, associate professor of education finance and policy at the University of Washington College of Education, told The Seattle Times that his research determined the McCleary fix “gave school districts with the lowest percentages of low-income students large increases in funding, [while] districts serving high-poverty student populations and more students of color also saw increases in funding, but the increases were smaller.”
And under the fix, the state still doesn’t provide for facility construction or major maintenance.
Amid those continuing debates came a revised HB 2049, which the legislature narrowly passed this year (50-48 in the House, 28-20 in the Senate) and which Ferguson signed into law May 20.
It vastly increases the limit districts can collect for school enrichment or enhancement — i.e. operating levies — from its statutory limit (which, adjusted for inflation, is now at about $3,150, according to the bill.) The bill immediately increases that amount by $500 and will continue to increase it annually until it exceeds $5,000 in 2031. It also calls upon the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene a workgroup to revisit how K-12 education is funded.
The matter affects Vashon immediately, because the district asked for — and 70% island voters in February 2022 approved — local levies above the state limit, just in case the Legislature changed the law — which it now has.
Prior to 2049, the law limited VISD’s collections. The levy lets the district raise more, though still not as much as voters approved in the levy.
That increase won’t require a vote. Local voters already approved it in 2022, and HB 2049 opens the gates for the district to collect.
In 2026, “under previous law, we could have collected approximately $4.78 million,” VISD Superintendent Slade McSheehy said in an email. “With the new legislation, that amount increases to about $5.5 million, roughly $714,000 more. This is still below the full amount voters authorized ($6.8 million), but it’s a meaningful step forward.”
With enrollment estimated at 1,358 for the coming school year, that means the district will collect about $4,050 per student next year, rather than the roughly $3,520 it would have without the levy and law change.
Looking forward, VISD will need to put a new enrichment levy on the ballot next year to keep collecting local taxes for operations in 2027 and beyond.
The change lets districts collect more money if a majority of voters approve. But it also resurrects the McCleary debate all over again: Is it right to let richer districts tax their way into better education? Lifting the cap on property levies benefits districts like Vashon but highlights the divide between have and have-not zip codes which spurred the McCleary lawsuit in the first place.
Still, for VISD leaders, higher local levies mean more resources for Vashon students, who they are tasked with serving.
“This is good news,” McSheehy said. “Any increase in local levy capacity helps us address gaps in funding for essential student supports, namely special education and MSOCs (Materials, Supplies, and Operating Costs). That said, we are also aware that this shift revisits equity concerns from the McCleary decision as well as continuing to shift the responsibility of the state to fully fund basic education to Vashon taxpayers. While VISD benefits from this change, there’s still a long road ahead to ensuring all Washington students, regardless of zip code, have access to fully funded public education.”
Next year’s budget
VISD board member discussed the district’s proposed 2025-2026 budget at their May 22 board meeting. The district will take a second reading, and may pass the budget, during its June 12 meeting.
The headlines:
• General fund total spending will rise from $27.1 million in the 24-25 year to about $29.3 million for 25-26 — an 8% change.
• Capital spending rises from $1.6 million to $2.6 million. The district will soon begin planning to replace its fire suppression system and playground at Chautauqua Elementary, and work on a student bathroom project at McMurray Middle School.
• Debt service spending skyrockets from $3.6 million to $20.9 million, because the district’s “balloon payment” — a large one-time amount due at the end of a loan — is due in Dec. 2025, according to the district.
• Certified salary spending (such as for teachers and administrators) will barely increase — by 0.14%. Classified salaries (such as office staff, paraeducators and custodians) will rise about 8%.
• Supplies and materials spending is down about $606,000, or 20%, because some materials and operating costs are moving to the purchased services category — which doubles from $2.5 million to $5 million, in part also due to increased insurance and utilities costs.
• Revenues climb to about $29.9 from $27.7 million last year.
• Total certified FTE (full time equivalent) staffing rises from 91.4 to 95. Classified staff drops slightly from 61.3 to 61.1.
• Enrollment is projected to continue to slowly fall, from 1399 full-time students this concluding school year to 1,358 next year. (That mirrors a statewide trend over the last six years.)
