Concerned Citizens Turn Out for Meeting After Failed Centralia Levy

After Centralia School District’s bid for an increased levy failed with a 68.77 percent “no” vote earlier this month, a Centralia school board community forum Thursday drew a crowd of about 150 people interested in discussing the outcome. 

Attendees shared concerns including a lack of trust and knowledge of how the levy money was planned to be spent and that the students are the ones who are going to suffer in this situation.

“Honestly, public school funding is one of the most complicated things to try to understand so we just want to bring some clarity to that. The board has not made any decisions yet as to what were going to do. That’s why we’re here tonight. We want to hear from you so we can consider your input,” said school board member Lori Fast.

All school board members were in attendance, including Fast, president of the board, Amy Buzzard, vice president, Vickie Jackson, Beverly Clark and Mandi McDougall. Also in attendance was Interim Superintendent Kristy Vetter, recently hired superintendent Dr. Lisa Grant, State Rep. Richard DeBolt R-Chehalis and Centralia School District Executive Director of Fiscal Services Rick Bonner, who answered more complicated questions relating to the district’s finances and the levy.

Before members of the public spoke, Vetter explained that the only topic that could be addressed by the board at the forum was the levy. She said the board was there to listen in order to make a decision about the levy and the budget.

The attendees were given a comment card where they could write and turn in questions to be read and answered by the board. There was also a microphone for individuals to make a public comment or ask the board members a question. About 30 people spoke and addressed the board. The forum lasted two hours. 

Rep. DeBolt spoke to the audience and addressed the board at the levy forum. 

“I came to listen tonight because this is an epic failure. A lot of communities dealt with McCleary. Nobody epically failed like we did,” DeBolt said. “I think the school board is super brave for being out here tonight and I know that you guys are new and you’ve worked hard. I appreciate all of the administration of the school and all of the teachers that showed incredible poise and courage tonight because this is bad folks and the things that we have to remember about Lewis County and Centralia is that we’re are better than that and we are stronger than that.”

DeBolt called for a change in culture and improved trust between the district and the community. He thanked the school board for their work and said he hopes they run the levy again and the community supports it. 

Before the forum was open to public comment, Fast gave a presentation of  an overview of the recent history of the levy rates in Centralia, the programs the levy supports, “real-world examples” showing the impact of the increased property value on the average household relating to levy and the budget cuts that would have to be made in the event of a complete levy loss.

District staff and board members used pie charts to illustrate how much of the budget is based on levy funds and the budget cuts that will have to be made at a few different levy rates and a total levy loss.

According to the presentation, if the levy rate would have passed at $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed value the district would still have had to make $3 million dollars worth of cuts. If the district dropped the levy rate to $1.50 the board would have needed to make $4.4 million worth of budget cuts.

A total levy loss will result in $9.8 million cuts. 

Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, spoke as a citizen and said he felt it was in the district’s best interests to hold off on running the levy in April and wait until November, so there is time to run a thought-out campaign, invest in good literature and change the narrative around the levy. He said that the district needs to work on building trust with the community.

“Let’s get away from the legislative sessions going on right now and wait until it’s a better climate,” said Meyer.

Fast said that all of the options are currently on the table.

Numerous parents of students in the district expressed the same concerns— that the students in the district are the ones that are going to suffer in this situation and that if the community wants services for students then they are going to have to pay for them.

Candice Richards, a parent of a student in the district said that in that past she has felt like the school board hasn’t listened to concerns of the public but has taken action that didn’t align with the public’s desires.

William J. Scholl argued that Centralia is a low-income area and the taxes are already too high without the added levy tax. 

“Believe it or not, this is not an extremely wealthy area. This is not a Bellevue where that can put up numbers like this and expect (the levy rate) to pass. You are pushing the people real hard and there are people in here that are struggling to make ends meet,” said Scholl.

“The wages are not going up and the property prices are going extremely high,” he said. “I would vote for a levy but not at this rate,” Scholl. 

Mark Westley, a Centralia High School graduate in that class of 1982, explained what it was like in 1972 when he was a second-grader, and the community experienced a double levy failure.

“Come third grade, several buildings were shut down. All students in (Jefferson) Lincoln (elementary school) were sent to Washington (elementary school). The library was filled full of desks. A lot of dynamics were changed and impacted by the things that had happened,” Westley said.

Westley said that he felt that the impacts from the double levy failure were not something the community would want to see continue long-term. 

“We have a long way to go in rebuilding trust and educating and just being as transparent as we can is the best route to take. Just give us the truth,” Westley said.

Former school board member Jami Lund spoke about students that would be left behind academically if the school can’t pay for services to help students who are struggling. He said that the board should be clear about what kinds of services they will be funding with the levy money.

“You have the device in the levy resolution to make those kinds of promises so people can see with transparency what they are getting for the increase in revenue that the district is asking for,” Lund said.

Fast said that if anyone that was unable to make it to the forum or didn’t get their question answered to contact the school board. 

“We have to make some hard choices but I know that the people that are making the choices,  their hearts are in the right place. We want Centralia to be a strong place to raise our families and a safe place to raise our families— a place to call home,” said school board member Mandi McDougall.