As residents submit their general election ballots, a new decision is on the horizon for Oak Harbor voters.

During a meeting on Oct. 14, the Oak Harbor School Board voted to add a proposal to renew the expiring educational programs and operations levy on the Feb. 11 special election ballot.

By winning the voters’ favor, the district would be allowed to levy taxes for four years — from 2026 to 2029 — upon all taxable property within the district. The current levy expires in 2025 and was approved by voters in the 2021 special election.

According to the Oak Harbor Schools website, the district’s boundaries extend from the northern tip of Whidbey Island to the San de Fuca area, on the northern side of Penn Cove.

The educational programs and operations levy funds various programs that the state doesn’t consider to be part of basic education.

The levy will continue to fund special education, paraeducators, academic and mental health counselors, electives and advanced placement courses, athletics, arts, school nurses, security enhancements, classroom technology and smaller class sizes, according to information presented by Assistant Superintendent Dwight Lundstrom on Monday.

“It makes a big difference to all of our students within Oak Harbor Public Schools,” Lundstrom said.

The maximum amount of money the district can collect from local taxpayers is $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value. According to Lundstrom’s presentation, the expiring levy started with a rate of $2.18 in 2022 and is currently at $1.81 in 2024. In its last year, 2025, it will decrease to $1.79.

With the approval of the renewal, that would be bumped to $2.28 per $1,000 of assessed value each year. This increase is necessary because, according to the resolution, the money in the district’s General Fund is insufficient to cover expenses up until the 2029-2030 school year.

Furthermore, Lundstrom said, the district needs to update its technology, for example by buying Chromebooks for every student.

In total, the renewed levy would collect $16.99 million in 2026, $17.68 million in 2027, $18.387 million in 2028 and $19.122 million in 2029.

While it’s an increase, property owners would still pay a lower tax rate than they did in 2021, when, under the previous levy, the rate was $2.32. On top of that, the community was paying for a bond until 2022, before the $121 million bond measure failed to get a supermajority vote in February 2023.