A big victory for Vallivue School District after Tuesday night’s election.
After failing to pass one levy last election, this time, voters approved two levies allowing the district to raise millions of dollars.
One is a supplemental levy which allows the district to raise up to $4.5 million each year for two years. This type of levy is used for academics and curriculum updates. Joey Palmer, the director of district programs for Vallivue School District, said some of the specific ways this will be used will be to keep participation in sports and athletics free and to provide advanced placement opportunities in the district.
The other is a plant facilities levy to cover school maintenance needs. The district can now raise up to $2 million per year for 10 years. That’s up from the old plant facilities levy that allowed the district to raise up to $1 million each year.
Palmer said some upgrades include fixing roofs that have leaks and floors in schools throughout the district. He said many of the updates are for safety reasons, like expanding the parking lot at East Canyon Elementary School.
“Being able to get parents off Northside Boulevard and into the parking lot quickly and efficiently, as well as making sure that our students that are arriving to school come here safely is very important to us here at East Canyon,” Principal Katrina Mcgee said. “We also want to provide parents and community members a place to park and not have to cross Northside Boulevard, which is a very busy street."
The school district tried to pass the plant facilities levy back in March, but it failed. It got more than 61 percent of the vote, but didn’t get the super-majority needed to pass. This time around, Palmer said it got close to 68 percent of the vote.
"I think what made the difference is getting the word out through social media. That's something our district really hasn't capitalized on in the past, so we really tried to meet our patrons where they're at and it's usually on Facebook and other avenues,” he said. “We also had a lot of parent nights where we had the opportunity to speak with them."