4 hours ago
HAMILTON, Mont. — Less than a year after voters rejected a multimillion-dollar bond for a new middle school, Hamilton school officials are asking the community to approve two smaller levies aimed at shoring up safety and basic technology.
On a May 5 mail-in ballot, voters will decide a perpetual safety levy and a 10-year technology levy that Superintendent Dave Thennis says are designed to protect existing services, not launch new programs.
“What they can expect, and honestly the reason that we’re asking, is we really want to protect the resources that we have and keep our attention on student achievement,” Thennis said.
The proposed safety levy would raise about $475,000 a year on an ongoing basis. The district says the money would help pay for school resource officers, social workers, behavior specialists, counselors and nurses, as well as safety training for staff and physical security upgrades on every campus.
Thennis said Hamilton currently has two school resource officers. One is fully funded by the district, while the second is supported through a federal grant that will phase down over the next few years.
“That grant, over the course of the next couple of years, reduces funding each year and then eventually it will be the responsibility of the school district to either keep that resource or not keep that resource,” he said. “What we don’t want to have is a safety resource competing with teaching and learning resources.”
The technology levy would bring in about $430,000 a year for 10 years. District leaders describe it as a way to cover the rising costs of technology infrastructure. That includes things like cybersecurity, internet, phone systems, licenses and network hardware. All without cutting into the same budget that pays for teachers and classroom materials.
Thennis stressed the measure is not about loading classrooms with new devices.
“It is not about shiny new devices. It is not about getting a bunch of kids in front of screens — we’re actually working towards the opposite,” he said. “Technology is embedded in our culture. It’s embedded in our way of life and we just want to make sure that we have stable infrastructure.”
He said software licensing and core technology services have climbed sharply in recent years, and Hamilton has tried to live within its means even as those costs rise.
“When your technology essentials start to increase in cost, they start to compete also against your teaching and learning resources,” Thennis said. “We want to make sure that our resources are allocated to our teachers and our students so that we keep student achievement at the forefront of all of this.”
The district is pitching the pair of levies as a stability measure in the face of flat enrollment, fluctuating federal funding and ongoing pressure to offer competitive pay to recruit and retain teachers.
“With the majority of school funding coming through enrollment, when you have fluctuations year over year, ups and downs, it can really wreak havoc with the system and what you can offer,” Thennis said. “It’s a little uncertain, it’s a little unpredictable. The stability isn’t quite there, and so really these are trying to stabilize our system.”
For a homeowner with a $500,000 house, the district estimates supporting both levies would cost about $10 a month.
Thennis said he knows any request that affects property taxes will raise questions, especially after voters turned down the middle school bond.
“Anytime you’re going to increase property tax there is always a little bit of ‘What are you doing here?’” he said, adding that the district wants residents to reach out, attend meetings and review information online. “We want dialogue to be happening. It’s how we learn and it’s how we gauge whether or not there’s interest in support out there.”
Ballots are expected to be mailed in mid-April and must be returned by May 5.
Click here for more information on the Hamilton safety and technology levies.
