UPLACE: Quality schools help define community

Similar stories:

• Letters to the Editor

  Letters to the Editor

  It is sad to see the “vote no” signs going up. It is sad to think about the misperceptions and reactionary attitudes that bring forth such signs.

• Gregoire laments education cuts during Bellingham visit

  Gregoire laments education cuts during Bellingham visit

  BELLINGHAM - The best ways parents can support their child's education and their school is to pass the tax levies and volunteer as much as possible, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday, Nov. 3, while at Shuksan Middle School.

  School districts around Washington are bracing for another round of budget cuts, after Gregoire unveiled a list of items to possibly remove from the state budget. Included in the $2 billion proposal is increasing class sizes, reducing or eliminating funding for intervention programs and reducing levy equalization funding for property-poor districts that can't raise much revenue through taxes.

  "The only place we could go was non-basic education," she said, specifically adding about levy equalization funding: "We tried to delay it. We could have taken it mid-year and they would have no way to make it up ... Possibly now it's in line with levies."

• Letters to the Editor

  Letters to the Editor

  Vote ‘yes’ for school district replacement levy For 48 years we have proudly voted for Peninsula School District levies and bond issues. Our vote on Feb. 14th will be no exception. We will vote to provide the children in our community with the best education possible, and that includes the best for our grandchildren at Voyager Elementary and Kopachuck Middle School. The reason passage of this Educational Programs and Operations Levy is so important is that it replaces the current levy set to expire. It provides about 22 percent of the costs of operating Peninsula School District on a day-to-day basis. The proposed levy will provide a continuation of funding for the next four years. Essential components like vital teaching staff, technology, textbook availability, athletics, arts and social studies curriculum, and critical building maintenance will be jeopardized if the levy fails. Peninsula School District rates as one of the best in the state. One way costs have been keep down is through the generosity

• Ferndale voters will decide fate of levy for schools

  Ferndale voters will decide fate of levy for schools

  FERNDALE - In addition to voting on a request to increase the city's sales tax to fix roads, Ferndale voters are being asked to approve a four-year levy to help pay for the cost of education in Ferndale School District.

  If approved by voters on Feb. 14, the school maintenance and operations levy would bring in $13 million in 2013 to $15.5 million in 2016 to help pay for day-to-day operations.

  It would replace a two-year levy that expires at the end of 2012. That levy is allowing the district to collect $11.2 million in 2012, or nearly 25 percent of the district's operating budget to help pay for such things as teachers and textbooks, music and athletics as well as transportation.

• School head to retire

  School head to retire

  Olympia School District Superintendent Bill Lahmann announced Wednesday that he will retire in June.