King County’s Feb. 10 election ballots will include votes on school levies for Snoqualmie Valley residents.

Both the Snoqualmie Valley School District (SVSD) — covering North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City — and the Riverview School District — covering Carnation and Duvall — have levies on their respective ballots. Riverview-area residents are also voting on a capital bond.

Information about the levies can be found at svsd410.org/community/2026-renewal-levies for SVSD and rsd407.org/bondlevy for Riverview.

For SVSD, two levies expire this year and are up for renewal: the Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy and the Technology Levy. The levy funds are for 2027-2030.

The EP&O Levy is for day-to-day school operations, covering things like non-teacher staff, early learning, extracurricular activities and student safety. New things being added include expansions to the elementary art curriculum, Early Learning Center offerings and elementary math enhancements.

Assistant Superintendent Ryan Stokes also noted that the EP&O Levy will cover “unfunded state mandates” that the district is bound to find out about during the legislative session.

The EP&O Levy would bring in $27.3 million in 2027, with an increase each year after for inflation.

The Technology Levy pays for refreshing of worn-out devices, cybersecurity and technology training for staff. New things being added to the levy include emergency response tools, disaster recovery and a new phone system.

The Technology Levy would bring in $9.8 million in 2027 — the same amount it is collecting in 2026 — with an increase each year after for inflation.

This puts the estimated cost increase for an average residence in the school district at $225 in 2027. It is impossible to verify the amounts until King County determines 2027 property taxes.

Stokes and Superintendent Dan Schlotfeldt emphasized that levy funds help enhance the school experience outside of the classroom. The funds cover activities that bring kids to school — like sports, music and clubs — as well as staff like mental health counselors, which have become “a more prevalent need” in recent years, Stokes said.

“We like to think that the things that kids like to come to school for are the things that the levy is paying for,” he said. “Keeping them engaged, giving them a sense of self or a sense of belonging or a passion that they want to pursue. All those things are really because the levy enriches and it expands what the state funds.”

Kelly Dillingham, a parent who lives in a small section of Sammamish included in SVSD, contacted the Snoqualmie Valley Record with concerns about the district’s “over-reliance” on levy funds.

Dillingham also worries that residents, generally, do not know what they are paying for. When the current SVSD levies were on the ballot in February 2022, only 36% of registered voters in the district voted in the election.

Dillingham said she is voting “no” for the levy renewals, as she has for the 20 years she’s lived in her home. She prepared a document for fellow residents, explaining her stance, as she works to “publicize these measures” and “increase voter awareness.”

“Pro-levy messaging frames these measures as a simple choice: vote yes for schools, yes for children,” she wrote in the document. “While supporting education is a shared value, responsible civic engagement also requires evaluating how much money is requested and whether existing funds are being used effectively.”

Dillingham wrote that dependency on levies shifts the “funding burden” from the state level to local taxpayers, increasing inequity between school districts.

She also notes that the requested EP&O Levy amount is 33% higher for 2027 than it was in 2023, “despite increased state funding and no growth in enrollment.” The technology levy is higher, by 22.5%.

Though state funding has increased, it is not enough to keep up with inflation, according to SVSD spokesperson Conor Laffey. An example, he said, is that the cost for basic functions — like fuel, electricity, water, sewer and food — has increased 17% in the last two years. But state funding for these items has increased 7%.

“That 10% gap represents approximately $400,000 in additional costs that levy funding was required to cover in order to maintain existing service levels for fuel, food, utilities and insurance,” he said. “This reflects only the most recent two-year period. The fact is that the state funding formula includes some inflation adjustments, but they do not reflect the actual inflation school districts are experiencing, particularly in King County.”

Stokes also noted he is not predicting an influx of funding, as the state continues to face a budget crisis.

“We would continually argue that the state under-funds basic education,” he said. “There are examples across all of our area and all of our system of things that one might think the state should be funding fully when it doesn’t.”

Dillingham stressed that she supports education, but is not comfortable voting “yes.” She has been discussing her concerns with other parents, a group of which held a public protest Jan. 28 in Snoqualmie Ridge.

“A ‘no’ vote is not anti-education,” Dillingham wrote. “It is a vote for transparency, accountability and a vote for wiser use of public funds.”