The Washougal School District has set amounts for its upcoming three-year maintenance and operations levy, as well as a technology levy.
Current levies are due to expire at the end of 2014. These were approved by voters in 2010 and provide additional funding to areas such as school safety, textbooks, special education, sports, music and technology. The levies will go before district voters in February 2014.
The M&O levy will be set at $6.3 million, which is 23 percent more than the current $5.09 million levy. Additional levy dollars are needed to maintain current programs for increasing enrollment, and fund expanded learning opportunities and programs, such as all-day kindergarten district wide, summer school, instructional coaches and safety improvements at all buildings, according to business manager Brian Wallace.
During a special meeting last week, the School Board heard from Wallace and other administrators about needs within the district.
“When I look into creating programs, such as summer school, I want to do it for more than a year,” said David Tudor, district curriculum director. “The research into pre-intervention is true. If kids don’t learn to read by grade three, academic problems increase substantially through school.”