When a school district sees a levy fail, it doesn’t mean there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. But it certainly raises the stakes.
The Washougal School District and Woodland Public Schools each saw replacement educational operations levies fail in the Feb. 14 special election. Under Washington law, districts will have one more chance to run their respective measures in another election cycle this year in order to see new levies go into effect next year.
Both Washougal and Woodland will run their measures again in the April 25 special election.
Though the vast majority of school districts in Washington maintain levies — 289 of 295 districts in 2020 — failures aren’t uncommon. Just last year, Evergreen Public Schools saw its replacement levy fail before managing to pass it a second time around.
And like Evergreen, Washougal and Woodland chalked up levy failures to inadequate community-outreach campaigns that resulted in low voter turnout.
“After Feb. 14, our board asked for a lot of feedback,” said Mary Templeton, the superintendent of the Washougal School District. “What they heard was that we had some communication issues. We weren’t clear enough about what was at stake and weren’t clear on the fact that this is not a new tax. We’re asking for a replacement.”
Washougal district runs two measures
The two measures Washougal set to run in April are unchanged from the levies that failed on Feb. 14.
The first measure — the enhanced programs and operations levy — funds extracurricular activities, student programs and staff supports not funded by the state. It is expected to collect $31.5 million over 2024, 2025 and 2026 at an estimated rate of $1.99 per $1,000 assessed property value.
The second measure — the capital levy for technology, health and safety — will fund tech upgrades throughout the district and a new roof for Washougal High School. That measure is expected to collect $9.05 million over three years at an estimated rate of 21 cents per $1,000 assessed property value in 2024, 84 cents per $1,000 in 2025 and 85 cents per $1,000 in 2026.
Templeton said a frequent reason for these measures failing is that voters may also not realize just how much is left of what the state defines as “basic education.”
“(The district without a levy) is a bleak picture to paint. It means there wouldn’t be any athletics or clubs at all, period,” said Templeton. “I think what would this town look like at (2 p.m.) when schools get out — they wouldn’t be doing sports; they wouldn’t be helping others in tutoring. It’s not a positive outcome for our youth and not a positive outcome for our community.”
Eighteen percent of the Washougal School District’s annual budget is funded by the replacement levies. Among staff, that includes 24 percent of teachers and 91 percent of substitute classified employees, according to Templeton.
More information on what Washougal’s levies are expected to provide can be found on the district’s website at www.washougal.k12.wa.us/district-budget-information/levy.
Woodland to rerun one levy
Woodland Public Schools’ proposed measure is also unchanged from the levy that failed Feb. 14. The district also chalks up the failure to a lack of adequate messaging and miscommunication that this measure, too, is a replacement and not a new tax.
The measure would collect $18.77 million over three years at an estimated rate of $1.91 per $1,000 assessed property value.
Fifty-seven percent of levy funds, the district said, would go to supporting basic education resources like teacher and paraeducator salaries. The remainder would go to school safety supports, groundskeeping, and extracurricular activities like athletics and performing arts programs.
More information on what Woodland’s levy would support can be found on the district’s website at www.woodlandschools.org/levy.
“Just from a philosophical perspective, when you have healthy schools, that’s an essential component to a healthy community,” Templeton said. “To see what (the school district) would look like without these levies, those are some hard, hard truths.”
