This bill amends RCW 84.52.065 to change how the state property tax for the support of common schools is set and collected. It revises levy rates and timing, adds that school support includes payment of principal and interest on bonds for common school capital construction projects, and adds an applicability provision. The changes modify existing law and create a new section specifying when the act applies. Key changes: subsection (1) sets a state levy for common schools at $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed value. Subsection (2) creates an additional state property tax for common schools with specified combined rates for certain years (combined rate $2.40 per $1,000 for calendar year 2019; $2.70 per $1,000 for calendar years 2018, 2020, and 2021). Taxes levied under subsections (1) and (2) for collection in 2019–2021 are not subject to the limitations in chapter 84.55 RCW. For collection in 2022 and thereafter the tax under subsection (2) is subject to chapter 84.55 RCW and the aggregate rate for subsections (1) and (2) must not exceed $3.60 per $1,000; if the aggregate would exceed $3.60, rates must be reduced pro rata. Deposit rules are specified: generally taxes collected under subsection (2) go to the state general fund, but taxes collected in fiscal year 2019 are deposited to the education legacy trust account. For collection in calendar year 2027, the amount levied under subsection (1) is to be determined by reducing the "part I highest lawful levy" for 2027 by $2,100,000,000. The act applies to taxes levied for collection in 2027 and thereafter. Uncertainties in the provided text: the bill refers to the "part I highest lawful levy" for 2027 but does not define "part I" or explain how that highest lawful levy is calculated; it references chapter 84.55 RCW (property tax limitations) and an assessed valuation ratio fixed by the Department of Revenue without providing the text of those provisions or the ratio. These specifics are not included in the extracted facts.

If enacted, the bill restructures how the state collects property taxes for K‑12 common schools by fixing a base state levy and specifying an additional levy with set combined rates for 2018–2021 (with 2019 revenue routed to the education legacy trust account and other years to the state general fund), then imposing a firm aggregate cap of $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed value for collections in 2022 and after that requires any excess to be cut back pro rata. It also explicitly counts payment of principal and interest on school construction bonds as part of “support of common schools,” and for 2027 reduces the amount levied under the base subsection by $2.1 billion from what otherwise would be the highest lawful levy, which will likely lower state property tax revenue available for schools that year unless other funding replaces it. The people and accounts most directly affected are K‑12 schools and their bond payments (which will be funded from these levies), property taxpayers (whose state school tax rate will be defined and capped as described), the state general fund and the education legacy trust account (as recipients of the additional levy in specified years), and the Department of Revenue (which must apply an equalization ratio not specified here). Key implementation details that would change the precise fiscal effect—how the “part I highest lawful levy” is calculated and the exact ratio the Department of Revenue must use, and the full text of chapter 84.55 limits—are not included in these facts, so the exact dollar impacts, especially in 2027 and afterward, are unclear.