Superintendent Sean McGeeney speaks at the Jan. 3 White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club meeting regarding two levy proposals to be considered on the Feb. 14 ballot.
Superintendent Sean McGeeney speaks at the Jan. 3 White Salmon-Bingen Rotary Club meeting regarding two levy proposals to be considered on the Feb. 14 ballot.
WHITE SALMON — Ballots are set to hit mailboxes in Klickitat County towards the end of the month for the Feb. 14 special election. On the ballot this time around for those in the boundaries of the White Salmon Valley School District are two separate levy proposals to support the district through 2026.
Superintendent Sean McGeeney presented facts pertaining to the EP&O (Educational Programs and Operations) levy and capital levy proposal at last Tuesday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of White Salmon-Bingen.
EP&O levy funds are used to pay for programs, staffing, services, and supplies, as well as athletics and extracurricular activities. The capital levy, which would be a new addition to the budget if approved by voters, would fund software and technology replacements to continue delivering on a one-to-one ratio of equipment to students that has been in place since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It would also support security improvements and repairs on the district’s buildings.
“We’ve done a fantastic job as a community taking care of our buildings. Whitson is 73 years old now, the wing where WPSIS (Wallace and Priscilla Stevenson Intermediate School) is 60 years old, Henkle (Middle School) is 30, and the high school is getting into its 50s. So there’s things we have to constantly do, just like a homeowner,” McGeeney said. “So the capital levy is consideration of taking care of some of those needs.”
Homeowners within the district boundaries currently pay $2.43 for every $1,000 assessed towards the district. If approved the two levies would amount to $2.40 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2024 and 2025, and $2.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value in 2026.
Combined the two levies would generate $13.5 million over the next three years, which McGeeney said would be about a 7% increase in funding, and is about on par for inflation estimates.
The White Salmon Valley School District currently relies on local levies for about 17% of its budget in the district’s general fund budget.
Student enrollment is a major factor in how much funding a school district receives by the state. McGeeney said the district has seen a decrease of more than 150 students since 2019. “Every student is, from a business standpoint, about $10,000 of basic education funding,” he said.
As well, insurance benefits costs are weighted more towards local funding instead of the state. He said that the district is looking at an additional $3 million next year in added staff benefits costs. Finally he mentioned that money collected from emergency pandemic funding is set to run out at the end of the school year.
“That levy money is going to be really important to us,” he said.
The community can expect to hear more from the committee in the next few weeks; mailers will also be sent out to residents.
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