Though they have yet to hear a single word of opposition, Dean Hatt and Martin Laster are still worried about an upcoming vote on the South Whidbey School District’s local tax levy.

Even though it will cost taxpayers less than anytime since 1998 and only replaces a levy that has been in place for the last six years, the two men say they still need people to show up at the polls and fill out their mail in ballots if the two-year measure is to succeed.

“It’s important for people to get out and vote,” said Laster, the district’s superintendent.

Estimated at a total of $3.17 million, the levy represents 24 percent of the school’s allowable budget. Without it, the school does not receive enough funding from the state and federal governments to pay for sports, music and physical education teachers, counsellors, library staff and books, building maintenance, or mowing the lawns. With it, Laster said, the district can keep class sizes small and give students an education that goes beyond the basics the state funds.

Hatt, who is one of two co-chairs of a citizen’s committee supporting the levy, said this emphasis on learning bears out in the hard numbers provided every year by the Washington Assessment of Student Learning standardized tests. WASL scores compiled for South Whidbey seventh and tenth graders last year show marked improvement in student performance over the past three years.

“It shows the educational process is working,” he said.

That kind of evidence is important to the campaign the citizen’s committee is waging. While at this point voters seem to be inclined to vote “yes” for the levy, actually getting them to the polls requires motivation. Based on voter turnout from the last levy election, at least 1,268 people must vote in favor of the measure for it to be validated. The final “yes” tally must also translate into a 60-percent approval rate. A simple majority will not do the job.

To provide the motivation test scores and lowered levy rate may not, volunteers working with the citizens committee will be on the streets Feb. 5 waving signs in support of the measure and encouraging people to get to the polls.

The first votes on the issue could start rolling in this week as absentee and mail-in voters fill out their ballots. Laster said he can’t imagine a large number of “no” votes turning up in the early balloting or on Feb. 5.

“We really are thankful for the level of support the community has shown us,” he said.

Past school levy votes have always passed by comfortable margins, but recent changes in the economy are still a worry. Laster said the board of education decided to ask for a two-year term on the levy rather than the six allowed to re-

assure voters worried about their ability to pay taxes in the long run. Expected to cost property owners $1.47 per $1,000 of property value, the levy could be an even better deal when the district learns how much money it will get from the state for the 2002-03 school year. In the 2000, 2001 and 2002 the district’s actual levy rate was or will be lower than the rate projected the last time the public voted for school funds. The rate was higher than projected in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Levy supporters know not every levy floated on South Whidbey succeeds. Two years ago, voters rejected a levy proposed by the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District. A modified measure later won approval.

A parks levy is also on the ballot Feb. 5. Also a replacement levy, the measure will not increase taxes beyond 15 cents per $1,000 property owners already pay.

The schools and the parks will split the approximate $8,000 in election costs for the ballot measures.