Modern classroom technology and devices are essential to preparing students for their future pathways – whether directly to career or college.  The Technology Levy Renewal ensures that every student will retain access to up-to-date devices for instruction.  It also funds technology training and support for students, teachers, and families.

Thanks to the Technology Levy passing overwhelmingly 4 years ago, every student in Northshore SD is assigned a device matched to their grade level and curriculum needs.  This 1:1 student to device ratio significantly streamlined the temporary shift to remote learning during the pandemic, helping insulate our students from worse educational shortfalls.  The Family Tech Support services that were started in 2020 will continue under this levy.

This measure supports Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education that is so important to prepare all graduates for the workforce of tomorrow.  The Technology Levy allows our district to offer programs like “Hour of Code” as well as adaptive technology for individual learning.

Please vote yes for student success – vote yes to renew the technology levy!

Submitted by: Cheryl Stanford, Patsy Treece, Jasmine Lee Fry, www.citizensfornorthshoreschools.org  

If the district could be trusted to spend this money as advertised, perhaps some portion of this levy should be passed. However, the 2018 $62M Tech Levy was grossly abused, spending $24M on unsubstantiated teacher training and staffing. The promise of a device per child was qualified as only for ‘those in need’, leaving non-district issued devices absent of security controls and exposure to countless hours exposed to unapproved online content during excessive at-home learning during the pandemic. 

Of reference, state charter schools are not permitted to run bonds and levies. They must operate within their taxpayer funded budget and yet produce excellent academic outcomes. NSD should learn from them.

The reason we are voting on 3 measures is that separating technology and building costs from the General Fund, more budget can be allocated to salaries. The district bloats the budget with excessive compensation: Superintendent $480k + the most (6) assistant superintendents in Washington averaging $250k each. With 22.4k students, we are one of the most expensive and top heavy schools in Washington. Seattle, with 55k students operates with 2 assistant superintendents. 

The district has abused our trust and funding. Vote no on misappropriating taxpayer dollars.

Submitted by: Dominique France, Angela Chapman, www.NSDStudentsFirst.com

Just like the teacher salaries and pool falsehoods above, the opposition committee is presenting wrong figures here.  The facts are that Technology Levy funds go toward purchasing devices to maintain our 1:1 ratio, which helped our students during the temporary period of online learning.  It also funds classroom technology and instructional technology training.

Voting yes to renew our Technology Levy is critical to ensuring a modern education that prepares students for the workforce of tomorrow.

Submitted by: Cheryl Stanford, Patsy Treece, Jasmine Lee Fry, www.citizensfornorthshoreschools.org  

Student success isn’t contingent on low-end district issued devices and 1 hour of coding annually. It depends on a rigorous and focused education that is safe. The previous levy was supposed to solve this, but didn’t. Many devices were issued out-of-warranty and families fined for repairs. Saying the tech levy supports “Hour of Code” is disingenuous: foundations and corporations pay for this. NSD has been irresponsible with our tax dollars.

Vote no to frustrating tech.

Submitted by: Dominique France, Angela Chapman, www.NSDStudentsFirst.com

Download the full text of the resolution

Simple majority (Wash. Const. art. VII, sec. 2(a))

For questions about this measure, contact: Lisa Youngblood Hall, Chief Communications and Experience Officer, (425) 408-7671, lyoungbloodhall@nsd.org