It was a mostly warm and supportive election night for smaller school districts in Clark County on Tuesday.
Of the four districts running levy votes — Camas, Washougal, Woodland and Hockinson — three were passing after the first round of results came out Tuesday night. Only Hockinson’s levy, a capital project levy, looked like it was going to be voted down.
However, Camas officials might have had the coldest night of district employees around Clark County.
Camas
“We usually go to the elections office and get in, but tonight we couldn’t,” Camas Superintendent Jeff Snell said. “It was late and after hours, and nobody let us in, so we just stood outside watching our phones. That’s the beauty of technology today.”
A cold February night outside was the only negative for Camas School District officials on Tuesday, as the district’s maintenance and operations levy was sitting at nearly 66 percent in favor and the technology levy received nearly 67 percent of votes in support.
“When I think of two-thirds of our community supporting our school that way, it didn’t feel that cold at all,” Snell said.
The maintenance levy will collect $16.1 million, $16.6 million, $17.1 million and $17.6 million over the next four years, while the technology levy will bring in $1.70 million, $1.75 million, $1.80 million and $1.85 million during that same time frame. Districts levy a dollar amount for each year, and it’s up to the Clark County Assessor’s Office to set the property tax rate to bring that money into the district.
Camas projected that residents will pay 6 cents more a year per $1,000, with the district’s projected rate going up to $6.31 per $1,000 of assessed home value for 2018-2020 with the replacement levies. The current rate is $6.25 per $1,000 of assessed home value. In the levies’ fourth year, the district estimates the rate will go down to $5.83 per $1,000 due to paying off bond debt.
The levy money will be used for additional staff, textbooks, curriculum materials, health room staff, Advanced Placement, Highly Capable and accelerated programs, special education staff and technology support staff. It also will be used for extracurricular programs and grounds, maintenance and utilities.
Washougal
Residents in Washougal also voted in favor of both replacement levies as of Tuesday night.
The replacement educational programs and operations levy had 59 percent of votes in favor, and 60 percent of returned ballots had yes votes on the capital levy for instructional technology.
“We can take that as an indicator that people are supportive and we’re good stewards of the public’s resources,” Superintendent Mike Stromme said. “They want to see our programs continue to support all of the needs of all our children.”
Washougal School District is split between Clark and Skamania counties. Fifty-two percent of Skamania County voters voted against the operations levy and 50.12 percent of ballots returned from Skamania County opposed the technology levy. About 400 Skamania County voters cast ballots, while 3,000 Clark County voters did.
The operations levy will collect $7.6 million in 2018, $7.8 million in 2019 and a little less than $8 million in 2020, while the technology levy will bring in $775,000 in 2018, $800,000 in 2019 and $820,000 in 2020.
The district’s estimated rate of the maintenance and operations levy is $2.91 per $1,000 of assessed value for all three years, while the technology levy has a projected rate of 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for 2018-2020. The district’s most recent rates for the operations levy are $2.92 for 2016 and $2.74 for 2017. The technology levy rate was 35 cents in 2016 and is 34 cents in 2017.
In Washougal, levy dollars make up nearly 20 percent of the budget. The operations levy will go toward athletics, health and safety, instructional support, student learning and staffing, while the technology levy will be used to update the district’s infrastructure and for the 1:1 program, which aims to give an iPad or Chromebook to each student.
Woodland
Woodland is also a district between two counties, although both Clark and Cowlitz county residents were in favor of Woodland’s replacement maintenance and operations levy.
The levy was narrowly passing after Tuesday’s results, with 51.72 percent of ballots returned in favor of the levy. Fifty-five percent of returned ballots from Clark County were for the levy, while 51.18 percent of ballots from Cowlitz were in favor. In Woodland, 284 of 2,185 returned ballots were from Clark County.
The levy will collect $4.5 million in 2018, $4.8 million in 2019 and $5 million in 2020. The district’s projected tax rates for those years are $2.70 per $1,000 of assessed home value for 2018 and 2019 and $2.69 per $1,000 in 2020. The 2016 rate was $2.62 per $1,000. Levy dollars make up 16.7 percent of Woodland Public Schools’ budget.
Money from the levy will go toward enhanced career and technical programs to prepare students for the workforce, staffing to keep class sizes low, teaching supplies and materials, technology equipment and support, textbooks, transportation, athletics and extracurricular programs.
Hockinson
A group of Hockinson School District residents was vocal about bringing synthetic turf to Hockinson High School’s main athletic field, but that didn’t translate into votes for the district. As of Tuesday night, the capital project levy was failing with nearly 60 percent of returned ballots in opposition.
“This has been a topic of discussion in the Hockinson community for the last two years,” Hockinson spokeswoman Sarah Coomber said. “The district put it up for an election to see how much support there is. This vote gives us the answer.”
The money would have been used to install synthetic turf at the high school’s main field and resurface the track. The levy asked for $1.5 million split over six years, broken down into $250,000 each year.
This was the third year in a row that Hockinson asked residents to help with funding through an election, as voters approved a $39.9 million bond in 2015 and a three-year $13.9 million replacement maintenance and operations levy in 2016.
