neighborhood villages

LWSD is considering an additional $120M levy.  This 6-year [school] levy will cost homeowners $29.00 for every $100,000 in assessed value. So the owner of a $700,000 house would pay $203 more per year in property taxes (2020-2026.) Property taxes on the $700,000 house are already: State School Taxes: $1330 McCleary School Taxes: $700 LWSD School Taxes: $1900 Roads, City, ST3, Hosp, etc: $2,800 Total: $6730 School taxes now make up 60% of our property taxes. This levy provides 4 elementary school additions and an addition at Lake Washington High School that was rebuilt in 2011. The District isn't even addressing the construction projects authorized by the Long Term Facilities Task Force. They will ask taxpayers to fund these in the 2020 bond measure. Additionally, the McCleary tax is scheduled to increase by 30% in 2021. I've lived in the same house for 20+ years. In 2012, my property tax bill was $4998 and the school taxes were $2600. In 2018, my property tax bill was $7,900 an...

If all students in LWSD who were eligible for school bus transportation were provided bus service and rode the bus to school, the traffic jams around our schools would not exist. The trouble is that our students are not provided with buses so their pa rents must drive them to school.  Note that in Washington State, students who must walk more than a mile to school are eligible for bus transportation as part of basic education. (See the section on the 1-mile walk-area in 28A-160-160 in the R C W) The Lake Washington School District Transportation website says "The district provides transportation only to those students living outside a one-mile radius." The one-mile radius rule was replaced by the 1-mile walk route in 2011. (SEVEN YEARS AGO!!) Why hasn't the district updated this policy on its website? LWSD is unfairly using this outdated statute to deny bus transportation to thousands of students. Horace Mann students who live at Lookout Ridge/Perrigo Heights and the peri...

Water Tender President Susan Wilkins at  Issaquah fish hatchery  Every year from September - October during the "Salmon Seeson" you will find the Water Tenders at North Bear Creek educating children, families and adults about the life cycle of salmon.  This Fall was the 4-year cycle for sockeye so we were expecting a good run.  The Water Tenders put up sandwich board signs along Avondale Road to direct viewers to the creek. We usually see a lot of  returning salmon but this year owing to a prolonged drought there were none to be seen so the exhibit was shut down. Usually over 100 viewers walk up the trail to see coho, sockeye and chinook salmon. Every year the Water Tenders pick up 1-2 Chinook salmon from the Issaquah fish hatchery for their Bear Creel exhibit.  Susan Wilkins, Water Tenders President says,"this is an excellent way for viewers to see and touch the gills, scaling, and fins for show and tell."  Here's a picture of Susan at ...