Ballots were received throughout area school districts last week and voters have until Feb. 13 to determine if they will continue their support of local educational efforts.

Reaching out to the public is the Enumclaw School District.

Things have changed dramatically in the world of public education recently, with court-ordered efforts by the state Legislature to adequately fund K-12 learning. The days of the traditional maintenance and operation levy are gone; the new state-mandated term is “educational programs and operations.”

Either way, the effort is the same: school districts are seeking money for efforts that go above and beyond the state’s definition of basic education. As before, levies are not for new construction. The local requests would cover things like safety and securing improvements, certain special education programs, athletics and activities, teacher training, early-learning opportunities and transportation that is not already covered by the state.

Because the state has stepped up its funding formula, school districts are dropping the amounts being sought in the upcoming levy requests.

Enumclaw

In February 2014, local voters approved a four-year maintenance and operations levy at a rate up to $3.89 per $1,000 of assessed property value. This time around, the district is seeking approval of a four-year levy that carries a rate of $1.50.

Passage would mean about $6.3 million to the district during the first year of collections, topping out at an estimated $9.6 million during the fourth year.

For the owner of property valued at $300,000, the annual tax bill for the expiring M&O levy is $1,167. With the lower rate of $1.50, the annual bill would be $450.