School levy promoted via Zoom

Interim superintendent Rich Stewart has been a virtual presence around greater La Conner in recent days.

Stewart, who assumed the district helm last July, has given a series of Zoom presentations to the Town Council, Swinomish Tribal Senate and local service organizations and residents, outlining the upcoming La Conner Schools replacement levy proposal.

The Feb. 9 ballot measure seeks to collect $1.45 per $1,000 assessed taxable property value, a five-cent decrease from the rate district voters approved in 2019, Stewart explained to Council members at their Jan. 12 teleconferenced session.

If successful, the $4.04 million proposition would fund five education, extra-curricular, and campus safety and security items over a four-year period, twice the length of the present levy.

Ballots will be mailed Jan. 20.

“The reason we’re going to a four-year levy,” Stewart said, “is to save the expense of having to run a levy every two years.”

He said the citizen’s committee that crafted the 2021 levy proposal is likewise sensitive to how COVID-19 has impacted taxpayers and thus sought to structure a ballot measure below the current $1.50 per $1,000 valuation level.

The monies are for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) programs, athletics and co-curricular activities, the Braves Club and after-school services, special education and upgrades to cameras and other security systems, Stewart said. The funded program areas are designed to help develop well-rounded students and help prepare them for a fast-changing and competitive economy.

“Our goal,” Stewart told the Council, “is to have 100 per cent of our students participate in academic and/or athletic extra-curricular programs.”

Stewart provided a chart estimating the respective costs district taxpayers will bear if the levy is approved. Those estimates range from $65 per month on a home valued at $200,000 to $162 monthly on a $500,000 home.

“Our levy is one of the lowest in the area,” he said.

In addition, school board president Susie Gardner Deyo noted that the district has saved over $1 million by refinancing its construction bond for the middle school building.

That prompted former Town Mayor Dan O’Donnell to ask Stewart about the Swinomish Tribal Community’s role in paying down the bond.

“Why not have the Tribe participate in the bond financing?” asked O’Donnell.

“They have given us $500,000 and funding for staff in the elementary school,” Stewart said. “They do make a difference. The tribe does give a lot of dollars to the district.”

O’Donnell termed Stewart’s response “inadequate.”

“They should pay their share of the bond support,” O’Donnell said.

The discussion quickly returned to the topic at hand – next month’s levy election – with Mayor Ramon Hayes and Council member Jacques Brunisholz, the latter of whom is a retired La Conner teacher, offering their support of the school district. “Thank you for the job you’re doing,” he told Stewart.

“All of us have had a tough road,” Hayes said of the COVID-19 pandemic, which last March forced La Conner Schools to adopt an on-line instructional format.

“We need a healthy school district,” insisted Hayes. “It’s the heart and soul of the community.”