Voters in the Mid-Prairie School District will determine the fate of the proposed Instructional Support Levy March 16. The Mid-Prairie Board of Education agreed to seek a 10-year levy in a move to restore greatly deplete reserves, as well as to eventually finance new programs, including all-day every-day kindergarten.

Public meetings to discuss the move that would see most of the levy in the form of an income tax surcharge have been held throughout the district. The final meeting is March 11 at Wellman Elementary School, starting at 7 p.m.

If approved, the levy is expected to raise approximately $465,000 annually in a combination of taxation and state funds.

Weight room

Among the items the board has been asked to consider using levy funds to help finance is a new weight room at the high school. The Mid-Prairie Athletic Boosters have offered to help finance the project, but told the board in January that they could not raise all the funds themselves.

Additional revenue could also permit the board to resume its award-winning Matching Funds policy that, in the past, brought the district everything from computers to a building and track facility.

He explained that the reserves were depleted in part, to fund on-going programs rather than just a one-time expense.