What is the Difference between a Bond and Levy?
There are three types of resource requests that Washington school districts can ask of local taxpayers. These are Bonds, Maintenance and Operations Levies, and Capital Levies.Bonds – These requests can be used to pay for the construction of buildings, facilities and 21st Century Learning technologies. Bonds have a specific intended purpose and the monies cannot be diverted to unintended areas. Bonds are what paid for the construction of Prairie View Elementary and Mountainside Middle School. They act like a home mortgage and are generally carried for 10-20 years. Maintenance and Operations Levies – Most often called “M & O” levies; these levies pay for extended learning programs, additional staffing, extra-curricular activities, and facilities maintenance. This type of levy is also called a “replacement levy” because it replaces the previous levy request on a 2-4 year cycle. Mead School District presently has a three-year M & O levy cycle. Of the 296 school districts in our state only
