Same students.
Same schools.
89% bigger budget.
CVSD’s General Fund budget grew from $146.6 million to $277.3 million while enrollment grew about 11%. Now the district wants $151.85 million more, at the maximum legal tax rate.
Vote NO on Proposition 1 Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026
Sources: CVSD budget documents; OSPI; NCES. Budget 2014-15 to 2025-26; enrollment 2012-13 to 2023-24. All sources
Watch · 1 min 49 sec
Don’t judge a levy by its rate.
The school board sets a dollar amount, not a rate. See how the replacement levy actually works, and how much faster it has grown than inflation.
Every figure in the video is sourced on our Sources page.
Read the transcript
The Central Valley School District is trying to pull a fast one on taxpayers. Their claim? The replacement levy rate is unchanged. That’s like a car dealer who only wants to talk about the monthly payment, and never the price.
But school districts don’t set tax rates. Here’s how the replacement levy actually works. The school board chooses a dollar amount it wants to collect through property taxes. The county then divides that amount across the value of every property in the district. The rate is just the math that makes it fit within the law, at $2.50 per thousand. So as property values rise, a flat rate collects more money every year.
Smart voters aren’t fooled by the advertised rate. They’re concerned about increases in the total tax amount. The levy before last was $93 million. And the current one jumped to $137 million. This replacement levy? A whopping $152 million tax. In 2022, the levy collected $29 million. But if the district is successful in its charade, by 2030 it will collect $52 million. That’s 79% more.
Supporters say costs have increased due to inflation. And that’s true for everyone. Since 2022, prices are up 15%. Over those same years, Central Valley’s levy is already up 57%. That’s almost four times faster than inflation.
Don’t judge a levy by its rate. Look at the price tag. See what it costs your home at centralvalleyschooldistrict.org. Vote no on Proposition 1, November 3rd.
Paid for by Curt Noble, an independent citizen in the district.
Your tax bill
A flat rate isn’t a flat tax.
The district says the rate will stay the same. The levy is a fixed dollar amount, and that amount keeps climbing.
- 2024
- 2026
- 2028 (proposed)
- 2030 (proposed)
Bars are drawn to scale from zero.
In 2024 the levy rate was about $1.90 per $1,000. In 2026 it’s $2.50, the highest rate state law allows, and Proposition 1 keeps it there through 2030. At the maximum rate, your levy bill rises every time your assessed value does.
Property in Spokane County is assessed at a record $96.99 billion, up 77% since 2019. High values mean a lower rate raises the same money. By the district’s own ballot figures, keeping 2026’s levy dollars in 2028 would take a rate of about $2.35. The district is asking for $2.50.
Sources: Spokane County Assessor Annual Reports, 2025 & 2026 (levy collected, rates, assessed value); Spokane County Nov. 3, 2026 sample ballot. The $2.35 is our calculation: $45,956,569 ÷ $19.56 billion, the value implied by $48.9 million at $2.50.
Where the money goes
This is a payroll levy.
About 85 cents of every dollar CVSD spends goes to salaries and benefits: $231,196,941 of the 2025-26 budget. The district says it has to pay top dollar to compete with other area districts. It already does.
Average teacher base salary, 2025-26
- Central Valley
- East Valley
- Mead
- Spokane
- West Valley
- Cheney
Bars are drawn to scale from zero.
Central Valley pays the highest average teacher salary of the six Spokane-area districts. Across the state line, Coeur d’Alene’s average is $67,467.
Sources: OSPI Personnel Summary Report 2025-26 (preliminary), Table 19; CVSD Budget page; Idaho EdNews (Coeur d’Alene, 2025-26)
The real trade-off
More pay, or more teachers?
The district spends $18,069,030 a year of levy money paying teachers above the state funding model. At CVSD’s 2023-24 average teacher salary, that would cover the base pay of about 190 more teachers.
Every dollar spent raising pay is a dollar not spent on more classrooms. That’s a choice the district makes, and voters get a say in it.
Sources: CVSD Budget page (2023-24 state funding model); OSPI Personnel Summary Report 2023-24 ($93,745 average). “About 190” is our calculation: $18,069,030 ÷ $93,745, base salary only.
Rising costs
Everyone’s costs went up. Only the district gets to ask for more.
Yes, costs are higher: utilities, insurance, fuel. They’re higher for all of us, and nobody is sending families a levy to keep up.
+5.3%
Average Spokane County paycheck, 2024 → 2025
Source: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages, Spokane County ($65,488 → $68,949)
+32%
CVSD levy collections, 2024 → 2025
Source: Spokane County Assessor Annual Report 2025 ($33,336,491 → $44,097,100)
Families handle rising costs by cutting back somewhere else. The district can do the same.
Your decision
You decide your local tax burden.
A local levy exists only if voters approve it. The amount and the rate are right there on your ballot. Voting NO on Proposition 1 doesn’t end school funding. It tells the board to come back in February 2027, before the new levy would begin collecting in 2028, with a smaller request.
More: Two years of state audit findings · Spending vs. student outcomes · “But what about sports?”
Vote NO on Proposition 1
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Ask for a smaller levy with accountability attached, and pass these numbers along to a neighbor.