Creating opportunity: Voters to decide on Wahluke School District levy

MATTAWA — Wahluke School District voters will decide the fate of a two-year educational programs and operation (EP&O) levy in a special election Feb. 8.

If it’s approved by voters, the levy would generate $2.23 million in 2023 and $2.35 million in 2024. If the levy is approved, property owners would pay $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value both years. A property owner whose property has an assessed value of $200,000 could pay $500 per year in taxes for the levy.

District superintendent Andy Harlow said it’s the same rate as the current levy, approved by voters in 2020. Actually, the district has not had to collect the full amount the last few years, he said.

Because it’s a school educational programs and operation levy, it requires a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass.

Ballots must be returned by Feb. 8. Ballots can be dropped off in the drop box in front of the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic, 210 Government Road.

Harlow said the money generated by the levy is used to pay for programs and staff not funded through the money provided by or inadequately funded by the state. That includes all extracurricular activities, and Harlow said that’s an important part of the district’s mission.

He said the Mattawa area doesn’t have bad kids; it has bored kids. Extracurricular activities give them something to do.

“The more that we are busy and have goals, life is good,” Harlow said.

Kids start having problems when they’re not connected to something else, whatever that may be, he said, so he wants the district to offer as many options as possible. That could be music or drama, sports, or the district’s robotics programs, among other choices.

“We believe this is really at the core of what we do,” he said.

But the extracurricular opportunities require coaches, bus drivers and equipment, all of which cost money. Harlow cited the 2021-22 girls basketball program at Wahluke Junior High School.

The basketball program had 68 girls turn out, to be divided among three coaches. The question, Harlow said, was whether to hire a fourth coach.

“Do we spend $2,000, get another coach and create an opportunity?” he asked.

The extracurricular program is about participation in the activity, he said, although it’s good if Wahluke teams are district contenders. But it’s also about the lessons from participation.

“We’re teaching kids about hard work, effort, grit, getting involved. These are the exciting things for us,” he said.

Some of the levy money also goes to places people wouldn’t expect, he said.

Levy money is used to pay for additional counselors, drug and alcohol programs at WJHS and Wahluke High School, the school nurse, mental health resources and the district’s school resource officer. District officials have been able to use a lot of different sources to pay for programs, Harlow said, and the levy is part of that.