Tuesday night the Tahoma School Board approved putting a technology levy renewal on the February ballot, but postponed the other two pieces proposed for the special election.

The levy approved for the election Tuesday night, if approved, would renew technology funding originally passed in 2006. This four-year levy would generate $10.8 million in funds to buy hardware, software and pay for technicians and technology coaches who train district staff on new tools that are purchased, according to district spokesman Kevin Patterson.

“The board will have a work-study session on Nov. 9 to further discuss the (operations) levy and bond measure,” Patterson said Wednesday morning. “The levy discussion will center around new information this week from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction regarding how levy amounts could be recalculated, beginning in 2011.”

This means the state legislature is looking at allowing school districts to collect more levy dollars by changing its formula, Patterson explained.

“This doesn’t mean we hit the jackpot,” he said. “It means we would have an option to use more local tax money to replace what we have lost and will lose in state funding. We need to know more about this before we move ahead with our levy.”

Also up for renewal is an operational and educational programs levy renewal which is set to expire at the end of 2010.

“This levy provides more than 20 percent of the school district’s general fund,” according to a document prepared by Patterson for the Tahoma Education Association.

Taxpayers in the school district currently pay $3.36 per $1,000 of assessed valuation of their homes and next year will pay $4.45 per $1,000 to cover the levies that are up for renewal.

A construction bond measure is the third portion of the proposed special election that the school board is still evaluating, according to Patterson. If approved, the district could sell 20-year bonds to raise $130.5 million to pay for a number of construction projects.

“The idea is to sell them in four chunks, beginning in June 2010 and ending in December 2015,” Patterson said. “That makes the projects manageable. We would probably begin with design and construction of the new Lake Wilderness Elementary. Design work would begin on several other projects at the same time so we would be ready to go when the next batch of bonds is sold. Those details remain to be worked out.”

Lake Wilderness Elementary, which hasn’t been renovated in years, would be the primary focus of the bond. The campus would also get new athletic fields, parking and bus circulation areas and most portables would be removed.

This bond measure would also pay for adding classrooms at Rock Creek, Glacier Park, Cedar River Middle School, Tahoma junior and senior high schools, with the latter getting additional common spaces. The locker rooms would be remodeled and other athletic facilities improved at Tahoma Middle School.

Money raised by the sale of bonds would also cover the costs of replacing roofs, siding, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems at a number of schools.

Tahoma High would also see most of its portables removed and artificial turf installed to its baseball and softball fields among other improvements to its football field.

A bond measure is needed in the immediate future because “according to enrollment projections made by independent demographers hired by the school district, enrollment is expected to exceed capacity at the junior high and high school within two to four years. Elementary enrollment district-wide is expected to exceed capacity in about four years.”

If sales of bonds are approved in February, Patterson said in the information provided to the TEA, it could take up to four years before construction would be substantially completed. Starting now would allow the district to ensure there’s enough space for additional students in the next decade and beyond.

“Another reason to move ahead now (is that) the current construction climate is very competitive, which means we would get more for our construction dollars,” Patterson said. “Adding schools would greatly increase operating costs. It is estimated that a new elementary school would cost about $1 million to operate. That money would come from the district’s general fund, not the bond measure. The general fund cannot support additional expenditures, especially considering state budget cuts during the current year and anticipated reductions next year.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, Patterson did not have final numbers on how much the bond sales would cost taxpayers in the district.

District architects, Patterson said, estimate Tahoma would be eligible for at least $23.6 million in state matching funds in addition to the $130.5 million voters will be asked to approve.

For the levies, a simple majority of 50 percent plus one vote is required to pass them, while 60 percent of voters must approve the bond measure.