There’s a saying that a community is only as strong as its schools. Around the South Sound, many local school districts are preparing for a February 9 replacement levy vote that will help to determine their ability to deliver programs and services that make a huge difference for student success.
For North Thurston Public Schools, the levy helps to fund everything from para-educators and music instruction to smaller class sizes and transportation. The levy makes up 21 percent of the district’s budget, including 265 staff positions.
Investing in students now can pay off for the larger community in the future, says Evergreen Forest Elementary Principal Stephanie Hollinger. “Eventually these students are going to be in our community,” she says. “They are the people who will work with us and for us. Providing for them now helps them to be successful later in life and throughout their lifetime. It’s proactive instead of reactive.”
At Evergreen Forest, levy funds affect the curriculum and programs and help to keep class sizes low. “We have a large military population,” says Hollinger. “They come to us with different needs. Their environments are not always stable because they have to move so much. We have a lot of great programs to provide students with the things they need to be successful, not just academically.” Those programs include a military support parent who runs lunch groups, teacher-librarians, and counselors.
At Pleasant Glade Elementary, levy dollars help to fund para-educator Margaret Douglas and the many hats she wears. “I teach everything from basic social skills in kindergarten all the way through leadership in fifth grade,” she says. The school implements Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS), which may look a little different depending on the grade level but focuses on the whole child approach of education.
“We start with basic social skills and then they learn how to play nice with each other,” says Douglas. On breaks, students learn Recess 101, an organized way to play games. “The kids learn the rules, and then they teach them to another student,” she explains.
Older students participate in Food to Flowers, a composting program that develops leadership skills. “I train the fourth and fifth graders to run it,” says Douglas. “We have 85 students in leadership.” As word of mouth has spread, she no longer has to invite students to participate. “We have third graders asking us all the time if we need any help,” she says.
In early spring, third grade students are allowed to join, and the outgoing fifth graders train the new arrivals. “It also functions as a mentoring program,” says Douglas. “It teaches students how to be a leader outside of the school. Our students are benefitting from what they’re being taught at Pleasant Glade.”
Music and performing arts also benefit from levy funding. At North Thurston High School, choir, band, and orchestra classes have been able to expand. “We were getting pretty constricted in the space that we have,” says Caitlin Van Zee, choir director at the high school. “Thanks to the 2014 bond, we’re getting a new building, which allows new students to come in. The levy helps us provide the programming.”
Van Zee explains that learning music has multiple benefits beyond just knowing what notes to play. “You not only learn theory, music teaches you respect, teamwork, practice, and discipline that you can take into your everyday life,” she says. “A lot of people don’t get to be creative and express themselves on a daily basis.”
The community benefits as well. “We go out and perform for retirement homes and at different events,” she says. “We make an effort to reach out into the community.”
Levy funding even affects transportation. According to John Suessman, Director of Transportation for the district, the State of Washington attempts to fund all 295 districts in the same way, through the Student Transportation Allocation Reporting System (STARS). Three times a year, they count the number of schools a district includes, use GPS to track all of the bus stops, factor in mileage and the number of buses a district uses, and employ an algorithm to compute how much funding will be received.
The result, he says, is that the state never fully funds transportation. “There are so many things that go on outside of what that algorithm funds,” he says. “We use the levy dollars to make up the difference. Currently that’s about 3% to 5% of our budget.”
Any cuts in the levy funding would affect safety and efficiency, he says. “We don’t use any reconditioned or repurposed parts. Our buses exceed Washington State Patrol and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration standards.” The transportation and maintenance staff have also won countless awards and state and regional recognition for their safety standards and performance.
Suessman says that although his own children are now grown, he and his wife believe the levy is good for the community. “We firmly believe that making sure that our children get the finest education helps to make them good, healthy individuals when they graduate.” The levy helps fund programs for a variety of learners from Advanced Placement and honors classes to Career and Technical Education programs.
Along with strong academics and compassion, North Thurston Public Schools, in particular, is known for its diversity, Arts, and Special Education programs says Courtney Schrieve, Director of Communications and Community Relations for the district. “A lot of military families move here because we have so much support, especially for kids with special needs. All of those programs would be at risk if the levy failed.”
What used to be considered basic education is no longer adequate, she says. “What might be considered ‘extras,’ we consider as part of a child’s whole education.”
To learn more about the North Thurston Public Schools levy, click here.
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