Wahluke SD asks voters for EP&O levy in special election

MATTAWA — Wahluke School District voters will decide the fate of a four-year educational programs and operations levy in a special election April 26. Ballots were mailed to district voters late last week.

Because it’s an EP&O levy, the proposal requires a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass.

If it’s approved, the levy would replace a two-year levy passed by voters in 2020. Property owners would pay $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, the same rate as the current levy.

If the levy is approved, it would generate an estimated $2.23 million in 2023; $2.35 million in 2024; $2.47 million in 2025 and $2.6 million in 2026. The owner of a property assessed at $200,000 would pay $500 per year in taxes to the district. Someone whose property was assessed at $300,000 would pay $750 per year in taxes to the district.

Wahluke superintendent Andy Harlow said a construction bond was paid off in 2021, which will reduce the taxes paid by property owners. In addition, EP&O levy rates have decreased over time, from $3 per $1,000 in 2009 to the current $2.50 per $1,000.

“If you go all the way back to 2004, (property owners) were paying almost $5 (per thousand),” Harlow said.

In addition, Wahluke would be eligible for an estimated $3 million in levy equalization funding from the state each year. Levy equalization is a program that provides extra state funding for districts that pass a levy but have relatively lower property values.

Ballots must be returned by April 26. A ballot return box is located in the parking lot at the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic located at 210 Government Road.

A two-year levy proposal was narrowly rejected in the Feb. 8 special election. Harlow said it lost by 13 votes.

Harlow said district officials and a committee that included district patrons and WSD staff set out to find out why the levy was rejected.

“We’ve learned an awful lot about this whole process,” he said.

In February levy supporters put out a lot of information, he said, but in the end it didn’t always reach the intended audience. In addition, there was some confusion about what the signs and flyers were all about.

“What I realized is putting stuff on social media, putting stuff in an email, putting stuff on a sign, isn’t good enough,” Harlow said. “Where the real work is done, I believe, in an election, is in day to day, face to face conversations.”

He prepared a presentation, he said, and started talking to people, at school and around the community, everybody from the district’s bus drivers to the Mattawa Lions Club.

“Once you get the opportunity to do that, that’s been really powerful,” he said.

Levy money is used to plug gaps, to pay for programs that are not fully funded through the state, or are not funded at all. Harlow cited the example of school counselors. State funding pays about 80% of the expenses for a counselor. The levy plugs the gap of the other 20%, he said.

All extracurricular activities are funded through the EP&O levy, including athletics and activities like robotics clubs and Wahluke High School’s Future Farmers of America program.

Harlow said district officials are working on a plan to respond if the levy is rejected - and in that case district officials would have to reduce the budget by about $5.2 million. In light of that, Harlow said the district might start charging a fee for athletic participation.

“We would have to cut our intramural program, because that’s a big chunk of money. And then things would look different, like field trips, robotics club, the Amazing Warrior Shake. Clubs and organizations would look different. We may have to eliminate some staff that are covered through grants,” he said.