Editorials, Opinion According to the Clark County Elections office, ballots will be mailed on Saturday for the upcoming Feb. 14 special election.
The issues that will be decided by voters are few, but important.
The Camas School District and the Washougal School District are asking for support for technology levies and maintenance and operations levies. These replace the current levies set to expire at the end of 2017.
Over the years, these local school districts have proven that they are consistently providing high quality educations that are the envy of others around the state. This, of course, is due to many factors including quality teachers and classified staff, strong leadership at the elected board level, active and involved parents, and students who are challenged and engaged.
An essential driving factor in being able to maintain quality schools is also voters’ continued support for these levies, which provide money to fill the gap between state funding and actual costs. These dollars amount to 20 percent of the funding needed to support local schools.
For the 2017 special election, Washougal has put three-year $23.2 million replacement M&O and $2.4 million technology levies on the ballot. Proposed M&O levy rates will cost taxpayers $2.91 per $1,000 of assessed value. Proposed technology levy rates will cost 30 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
