Middleton trustees debate levy size, possible cuts and timeline for a May ballot
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Summary
Board members and staff weighed options for a spring levy: keep a proposed $2.476M request to maintain staffing and security officers, revert to a $1.5M ask that would require cuts, or choose a middle option near $2M. Staff will return in February with scenario comparisons for a March ballot deadline.
District business staff told trustees the primary drivers for a higher levy request are device replacements (post-COVID Chromebook cycles), security staffing (resource officers and campus security), and curriculum/textbook renewal cycles.
Staff described three options for the board to consider before a March deadline to place the levy on the May ballot: keep the previously proposed $2.476 million (maintains staffing levels and adds two additional security officers), revert to $1.5 million (would reduce personnel and services, including one teaching position and curriculum purchases), or adopt a middle option around $2.0 million that would require targeted adjustments (for example, reducing building maintenance allocations or delaying certain curriculum purchases).
Why it matters: staff said a lower levy will force reductions that affect classrooms, transportation and extracurricular activities, and noted that building-maintenance funds from modernization grants cannot be used for routine repairs. Trustees pressed for detail on likely program impacts (transportation, pay-to-play fees, curriculum adoptions) and asked for neighborhood outreach to better gauge support in the district’s eastern areas where prior bond/levy approval levels were low.
Next steps: staff agreed to prepare three concrete scenarios for the February board meeting, including estimated service and personnel impacts, and to run a targeted survey of eastern-district voters. The board discussed the need to finalize ballot language in March to appear on the May ballot.