School board votes to
put levy on ballot in February
By Rick Sorrels, Special to the KP News
Voters will decide on a school levy at the
Special Election to be held on Feb. 3. The
motion, which passed the School Board
unanimously on Nov. 13 was a result of an
in-depth study by a large group of community
members.
"The 26 people in the focus
group came from many walks of life," said
Wendy Wojtanowicz, a School Board Director
who lives in Wauna. "The group studied
building and population trends, interest
rates, school growth, and many other
factors, concluding that we are in a slow
down period with the economy not recovering
for a few years before an upturn. They felt
that economic conditons did not allow for
any additional tax burden."
Superintendent Terry Bouck
stated, "We are trying to hold the line for
the next three years while economic
conditions improve. There will be no
increase in taxes, we are simply maintaining
what we are doing by renewing the expiring
levy."
The current property tax levy,
which was approved by the voters in 2005,
expires in December 2009. Approximately $15
million will be collected under this levy
for calendar year 2008. The total schools
budget for 2008 is roughly $80 million.
The proposed levy would start in January
2010 and run through December 2012. "We
expect to collect just a little bit more
than $16 million the first year," said Karen
Sexsmith, the director of finance for the
school district.
Because of the
construction boom and the great increase in
property values since 2005, the proposed
levy would effectively be a reduction in the
rate per $1,000 evaluation when you compare
the actual dollars collected.
Both
the expiring levy and the proposed levy are
designated for operations and maintenance
expenses, which covers such things as number
of teachers, staff, security, curriculum
development, bus fleet, equipment, after
school programs, certificate programs, para-educators,
tutoring, and technology upgrades.
"Money collected from the levy comprises 20
percent of our entire budget," said Bouck.
"If the proposed levy were to fail, we would
need to carefully study and re-prioritize
everything that we do."
The other 80
percent of the schools budget comes from the
state and federal governments, fees for "pay
to play", and donations from individuals,
groups, and businesses.
"It's hard to
put a finger on what programs would have to
be cut," said Peninsula High School
Principal Tim Winter. "Student learning
would definitely suffer without the levy."
"Eighty percent of our budget is people.
I don't know how to cut the budget without
cutting people," said Mike Benoit, Principal
at Vaughn Elementary.
Kari Wilkinson
has been involved with PTA for more than 12
years, has been President of the KPMS PTA
for two years, and is the current Leadership
Director for the Washington State PTA.
Wilkinson said, "Our kids will loose if the
levy fails.
We will loose teachers, we
will loose programs, everything will suffer.
We would be letting our children down by not
giving them the education that they
deserve."
In January of 2007,
Peninsula School District joined a plethora
of other schools districts, parents, and
educational associations in a lawsuit
against the State of Washington for its
failure to comply with constitutional
mandates and court decisions that require
the state to "fully fund basic education
with stable and dependable funding sources
as the State's first priority above all
other state programs and operations."
"The
outgoing Superintendent of Public
Instruction does not believe that we are
fully funded under the constitutional
mandate," Bouck said. "We do not yet know
the position of the newly elected SPI."
We believe that everything funded by the
proposed levy is actually the responsibility
of the State of Washington," said Bouck.
"Until such time that this inequity is
corrected, levies are necessary to provide
quality education for all of our students."
Dale Sandretski is a low income
Longbranch property owner who does not have
any children of school age. Sandretski has a
different point of view, "I will vote
against the levy. Governor Gregoire ran for
reelection on the pretense that she would
take care of the educational problems in
Washington State. By supporting the school
levy, we would not be holding her hand
against the flame."
