Days before the Feb. 10 special election in Lewis County, volunteers with Citizens for Centralia Schools called more than 1,000 people to gather late support for its upcoming school levy vote.
The list they used had been assembled by a data-gathering company and included residents assumed to be potential “yes” voters on a local property tax to support the school district.
“No list is infallible,” Edna Fund told The Chronicle during a conversation at The Juice Box Monday evening.
The former city councilor and county commissioner had led the phone-calling initiative.
Still, when you pass a levy by 16 votes, every call matters.
“This lifted my heart a lot to know that we pulled this off,” campaign organizer Neal Kirby told the crowd of district board members, principals, staff and supporters gathered at the restaurant.
The celebration came three days after the district officially passed its three-year educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy, which is set to replace its expiring levy in January 2027.
The new levy will allow the district to continue funding a wide range of programs and services, including K-12 athletics, visual and performing arts, outdoor education, counselors, nurses, mental health specialists, summer school, technology and more.
Kirby, a former principal, school board director and state representative — and now an avid mountain climber — made sure to thank the many volunteers who helped put the levy vote “over the top.”
“We had dozens and dozens of people work on this campaign,” Kirby said.
Including the team that made over 1,000 calls to potential voters, and the volunteers who footed across town speaking to their fellow neighbors.
“We doorbelled most of the precincts inside of the city limits, and went to all the doors where we know that voters were living,” Kirby said. “We had homeowners and businesses show support by putting signs up all around town. We had almost 300 signs put up around town, and we had people writing editorials.”
Other promotional efforts included flyers, mailers, radio ads and social media outreach. Kirby said the campaign raised over $9,000 to fund its efforts.
The career educator said he found it remarkable that the community chose to support the levy, despite some experiencing what he said were “substantial tax increases” after going from having no levy to paying property taxes for the current levy.
“The other thing is that it’s going to give the school (district) another three years of stability in their school programs,” Kirby said.
He said he hopes the district can ultimately get back to passing levies on a regular basis.
“I am so proud of our community,” Fund added.
Centralia School District Superintendent Lisa Grant told the crowd she was overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness.
“Sixteen votes is not a lot. And yet, it’s 16,” Grant said. “You only need 50 percent plus one. But the work, every conversation that was had to remind people to vote, everyone that explained the levy and answered questions. Whether you had a sign in your yard, you made phone calls, you wrote an editorial — every single one of those actions helped make this happen.”
Grant said the levy will allow the district to build momentum — and confidence in the students and staff — as it continues to maintain and improve its programs.
The superintendent thanked Kirby for his “countless hours” working on the campaign — even from atop a mountain — as well as Fund for her organizational efforts. She also thanked MacKenzie McGee, who served as the campaign’s treasurer and social media specialist.
“You are true members of Team Centralia,” Grant said.
With the levy vote in the rearview, district leaders took the evening to recognize their hard-earned accomplishment. They know there is plenty of work ahead.
“While we are excited and thankful, we also take very seriously our commitment to be good stewards of the levy funds and to intentionally use them to improve student success,” Grant wrote in a statement after the election’s certification last Friday. “We hold ourselves accountable for the return on investment our community makes in our district.”
