Chief Umtuch Middle School teacher Beth Doughty’s seventh-grade history students tapped away at Dell Chromebook computers Thursday, completing presentations they hope will take them to a national history competition.
Using the Chromebooks — stripped down laptops that run on a Google operating system — students are able to write papers, edit documentaries and create presentations. Doughty can make edits and suggestions in real time, a more interactive process than the days of handwritten drafts.
“I feel like I’m best able to meet their needs,” she said.
This February, Battle Ground Public Schools is asking voters to approve a $136.54 million levy spread over four years to replace this year’s expiring levy. The levy would cost voters $3.66 per $1,000 in assessed property value, meaning a house valued at $250,000 would be assessed a $915 tax. Battle Ground Public Schools says the levy rate is projected to stay the same as the 2016 levy rate.
“Our (school) board was emphatic that with the issues surrounding taxes, the sensitivity, they were insistent that we not increase the taxes to our community,” District Superintendent Mark Hottowe said. “This is an absolute flat rate.”
Information Sessions
Battle Ground Public Schools will host three information nights to provide details about the maintenance and operations levy that will be on the Feb. 14 ballot. The meetings are open to the public and will be held at:
• Jan. 17, 6 p.m. at Chief Umtuch Middle School, 700 N.W. 9th St., Battle Ground
• Jan. 24, 6 p.m. at Laurin Middle School, 13601 N.E. 97th Ave., Vancouver
• Jan. 31, 6 p.m. at Yacolt Primary, 406 W. Yacolt Rd., Yacolt
The last day to submit a mail-in voter registration form in order to vote on Feb. 14 is Jan. 17. The deadline was extended a day due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
Online voter registration can be submitted up to 11:59 p.m. Jan. 16. Voters have until 5 p.m. Friday to update current registration information in person at the Elections Office at 1408 Franklin St. in Vancouver. Voters who are not registered anywhere in Washington can register in person until 5 p.m. Feb. 6.
Ballots will be mailed Jan. 27.
If the replacement levy fails, the district could face cuts or else putting a retooled levy before voters at a later election.
The levy would help maintain technology funding, staff levels, special education programs, health specialists and other programs district officials say are critical to the success of the district’s 13,477 students.
If the levy is approved, the district would also receive about $26.8 million over four years in levy equalization funds from the state, which district spokeswoman Rita Sanders said the district is eligible for because Battle Ground is an “industry poor area.” The district’s levy primarily relies on homeowners rather than large businesses due to the lack of large companies in Battle Ground, she explained.
The levy and levy equalization funds make up about 23 percent of the district’s general fund budget, which, for the 2016-2017 school year, is $155.7 million. Another 68 percent comes from state funding, while grants and other funding makes up 9 percent of the budget.
“That’s significant,” Sanders said. “We want to provide a quality education to our students.”
The largest portion of the levy dollars, about $29.8 million each year, goes toward staff, educational programs and transportation. Levy funding allows the district to fund 92.5 certified teachers above the state, which funds 466.5, 20 psychologists above the state, which funds 0.29, and 10.23 nurses above the state, which funds 1.77.
That emphasis on staff strengthens Battle Ground’s institutions, Hottowe said.
“If I had a child, I would choose Battle Ground to have my student go to school because of the number of adults that would surround my child in the district,” Hottowe said.
The levy vote comes shortly after voters failed to approve a school bond in November. Bonds require a super majority of 60 percent to pass, however, while levies only require a simple majority of more than 50 percent. According to the Clark County Elections Office, 55.43 percent of Battle Ground voters supported last November’s bond.
Sue Cranke, chair of Battle Ground Citizens for Better Schools, has been advocating for the district for about 20 years. Her two sons graduated from Battle Ground High School in 2009 and 2011, and she said the district’s ongoing struggles with passing levies affected her children’s success. Her sons felt at a disadvantage when they went to college and met fellow students from better funded districts who had access to more college-level coursework and extracurricular programs, she said.
“They were on this roller-coaster ride of up and down and up and down,” Cranke said. “You could never ever get ahead.”
And if the district has to make cuts, history teacher Doughty fears it could put the district back into those disadvantages.
“It would really put us behind,” Doughty said. “A lot of the districts are going to have that funding and it’s going to put us at a serious disadvantage.”
