Mount Pleasant school levy passing

Initial results from the Feb. 11 special election show Mount Pleasant School District’s three-year maintenance and operations levy, which would raise $195,000 per year of collection for the rural Washougal K-8 school, is passing by 53.57 percent, with 45 “yes” votes to 39 “no” votes.

The projected tax rates range from $1.79 to $2.13 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

If approved, the funds will “fill the gap between the amount provided by the state and federal sources for operations of the school,” according to Mount Pleasant School District Superintendent Cathy Lehmann and Mount Pleasant School Board President Karl Kanthak.

“The school is being run in as efficient a manner as possible. We have five certified teachers offering nine grades, K-8,” Lehmann and Kanthak noted in Clark County’s online voter’s guide. “State law requires that all property be incorporated into an educational taxation district. Mount Pleasant residents have the long term choice of operating their own school district or being consolidated into the Washougal School District, which has higher total maintenance and operations levy, technology levy and capital bond rates.”