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Lots of people are perplexed about the local school levy in Centralia. Here’s some facts (and I’m talking about only the operations levy, not the bond for new schools).
The district wants to raise the levy from $1.50 per thousand to $2.50. That’s a 66 percent increase.
The state, two years ago, as part of the McCleary court case, required lowering local levy rates from anything above $1.50 down to $1.50, cutting Centralia’s levy from $2.83 to $1.50. The now allowable $2.50 rate would be 33 cents (11 percent) less than two years ago.
The state also raised the state levy for schools two years ago by 82 cents, increasing state education taxes for this promised lowering of local levy taxes. The very next year, the legislature voted to increase levy ability back to $2.50, breaking its promise.
The legislature used its new revenues to provide huge money to schools due to McCleary, with the largest block of money to replace salary paid by the local levy, which under McCleary, is illegal. But during negotiations, the district kept using levy money for salaries and added all the new state money on top of both state and local money already used for salaries.
The levy still went down to $1.50 per thousand, far less than needed to pay for the 24 percent increase in teacher salaries. So the district will go into deficit spending and not be able to meet its obligations unless the levy is increased.
If the levy fails, the contract between teachers and the district requires renegotiating. If it fails the first try but the full $2.50 is not passed on the second, it will not be enough for salaries, so programs and services will have to be cut to cover salaries.
The board failed to educate the community on the state’s purpose in increasing salary money two years ago. Prior to negotiations, any board member or superintendent could have shared these facts with the community, but didn’t. Only teachers communicated with the community and their message was, “The state sent new salary money, and they won’t give it to us.”
Signs popped up around the community saying, essentially, give teachers a fair contract now. Not knowing the facts, the community became sympathetic, the tide shifted, and teachers got one of the largest increases in the state using all state salary money and even more levy money.
Three board members since left the board, two voluntarily, one voted out. The new board and new superintendent are left with the mess. Voters have to decide if they will help them out.
Jami Lund, the defeated member, is running a campaign against the levy. I don’t know why he, the board, and the superintendent didn’t work to educate the community before negotiations. If the people of Centralia and the teacher membership had been given the facts of McCleary and the purpose of new state funding, we might not be in this mess. Voters have to decide. It’s a tough choice.
Neal Kirby
Centralia
