After the ballots were counted on Tuesday, The Missoula County Public Schools’ elementary and high school bond levy requests were approved by Missoula voters.

Superintendent Mark Thane said the support from the community was gratifying.

“The Missoula voters very generously supported our two levy requests,” said Thane. “We have seen significant growth over the last few years. Our elementary population had grown by 611 students since 2011 and our high school district by 104 students in the last three years. So, it’s important that we expand our budget to in order to support those students and provide the staffing in particular to enhance meeting our accreditation standards.”

Thane said the growth in students has produced its own challenges.

“We have 18 classrooms in the elementary district that exceed the enrollment limits, and we don’t have capacity even with the passage of the levy to offset all those oversize classrooms, but over time, we hope to add the necessary staff so that those areas that are really stressed will get some relief.”

The elementary district levy vote was 4,959 in favor, that’s 57 percent, and the high school district had 7,736 in favor, that’s 54 percent of the votes.

Thane said for most of the taxpayers live in both school districts the net effect of all school taxes, including the levies, will be an increase of just over five dollars per year for every $200,000 on assessed property value.

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