Nampa school district voters will be asked Aug. 28 to approve a two-year supplemental levy of $1.6 million per year to help pay for curriculum, technology, supplies and maintenance.

The district’s March levy attempt failed at the polls with only about 40 percent support, but that time the district was seeking more than twice as much in property tax money: $3.58 million each year for two years.

The school board decided to scale down its request to keep the levy at the same level as the supplemental levy that expires this summer, district spokeswoman Allison Westfall said. That way, property owners will not see an increase in the district’s levy next year or the year after that.

Two other Canyon County districts whose supplemental levies failed in March went back to voters in May and gained approval by nearly two-thirds of participating voters. Those districts – Vallivue and Middleton – both were requesting the same level of funding as their current supplemental levies.

Nampa district leaders also are following the example of Vallivue and Middleton by enlisting a committee to help communicate the need for money to supplement state funding of district operations. All three districts led very low-key campaigns for their March levy attempts, largely relying on website Q&As to answer voter questions.

The Nampa district has tapped Lynn Borud, a local Realtor, to lead the committee to get word out about the August levy election.

If passed by a simple majority of participating voters, the Nampa supplemental levy would fund, for each of the next two school years, $250,000 for materials and supplies, $750,000 for maintenance and $600,000 for curriculum and technology, including a long-needed new reading curriculum.