9:36 PM Tuesday, November 7, 2023
In the Wayzata Public School District, voters overwhelmingly renewed a technology levy at the ballot box on Nov. 7.
Voters approved the ballot question with 78.95 percent in favor. Another 21.05 percent cast votes against renewing the levy.
Technology levies are voter-approved sources of property tax revenue that pay for items like school district technology, IT staff, school security systems and classroom technology equipment.
The existing tech levy was set to expire.
The renewed levy is expected to generate approximately $5.7 million per year for the next 10 years. The renewal will not raise property taxes.
A student at North Woods Elementary in Plymouth uses an iPad during class.
Wade Phillips, director of technology at Wayzata Public Schools, told CCX News that tech devices like iPads are an essential part of classroom instruction.
“In times when I went to school, and maybe some of the parents and guardians out there, they had paper,” Phillips said. “They had pencils, they had notebooks. They had physical textbooks. A lot of that has moved to the digital world.”
District security also relies on the tech levy for funding, Phillips said.
The levy funds “door-access control [and] security cameras,” as well as “firewalls, endpoint protection, anti-virus [and] anti-malware [software],” Phillips said.
