School district asks for feedback on levy with forums, survey

The Peninsula School District is asking local residents for input on an upcoming levy renewal that will fund programs and operations.

Formerly known as a maintenance and operations (M&O) levy, the education programs and operations (EP&O) levy will be heading to the ballot box next year. The current levy will expire in 2016 and the district is asking voters to renew it through 2020.

For now, the district has held community forums and has offered both online and paper surveys to gather public feedback.

A final recommendation won’t come before the school board until Oct. 22.

One thing the district must consider is the fluctuating amount of school funding from the state. At a forum Monday evening, district officials discussed the issue with relying on state funding.

“It’s really hard to have that crystal ball and for me able to say what will happen,” said Karen Andersen, the district’s chief financial officer. “(The state Legislature is) supposed to relieve the pressures that’s on local levies.”

In the McCleary education funding case, the state Supreme Court ruled that public schools were underfunded. The Washington state Legislature now must find funding for public schools.

The EP&O levies have felt pressure in many school districts statewide as the money increasingly goes toward basic education. That’s because with a lack of state funding, Superintendent Chuck Cuzzetto said, districts must look to those local dollars to do simple things like keep classrooms supplied, pay teacher and keep buses on the roads.

The survey on the levy is available online at the district’s website at www.psd401.edu.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 12:12 PM with the headline "School district asks for feedback on levy with forums, survey."