The Centralia School District’s replacement levy was failing by a total of 39 votes after Wednesday afternoon’s tally, according to the state’s official voter information portal, votewa.gov.
The proposed three-year educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy intends to replace the current levy, which expires Dec. 31, 2026.
The new levy would begin in January 2027.
As of Tuesday’s tally, 2,168 voters, or 48.76%, had responded yes to the levy, while 2,278 voters, or 51.24%, had responded no.
Wednesday morning, Lewis County Elections Manager Jolene Manuel told The Chronicle there were 563 countywide ballots left to process from the drop boxes and the mail. Those ballots had not yet been “signature checked,” Manuel said.
Lewis County Chief Deputy Auditor Tom Stanton noted there was no way to know which of the remaining votes applied to the Centralia School District levy.
Just after 1 p.m., Wednesday, the county uploaded its latest results to the state’s website, showing 2,382 votes for yes and 2,390 votes for no — a difference of eight votes.
The total tally, however, also includes a small selection of voters from Thurston County. As it stands, 32 of those voters have responded yes to the levy and 62 have responded no.
That brings Wednesday’s multi-county total to 2,414 votes for yes and 2,452 votes for no — a difference of less than one percentage point.
The district needs a total of 50% plus one vote to pass the levy.
All 25 precincts in Lewis County have reported, as have all four precincts in Thurston County.
Any additional votes will come from mailed ballots that arrive later but were still postmarked by Feb. 10.
Past election results pages have listed the estimated number of countywide ballots left to be counted. The new state-run portal does not.
Despite the page’s new look, Stanton said the ballot-counting process remains the same on the county level. Votes are tabulated offline using an “air gap system.” Results are then downloaded and transferred to a county machine using a thumb drive to upload to the state’s site.
The next voter turnout update was expected by Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 5 p.m. Look for updates at chronline.com.
The Centralia levy vote comes after a robust campaign effort that included door-to-door outreach, community forums and a detailed levy page on the district’s website featuring an FAQ, line-item breakdown of how the money would be used, and even a levy calculator.
On Jan. 13, the Centralia City Council passed a resolution 6-1 in support of the levy, with Tucker Voetberg supplying the lone opposition.
Other prominent local figures voiced their support as well, including Lewis County Commissioner Sean Swope, state Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Chehalis, and the members of the Centralia Community Foundation.
The Chronicle Editorial Board called the levy “more than just an educational investment; it is a strategic commitment to the economic future of our community and lays the groundwork needed for a skilled local workforce.”
School levies create revenue for programs and services not funded by the state — either fully or at all — by collecting a tax on property owners within the school district.
The proposed levy would tax homeowners $1.70 per $1,000 of assessed property value in its first year for a total of $7,150,000. Five-cent increases in years two and three would net the district $7,640,000 and $8,157,000 in property taxes.
According to the district, a typical owner of a $400,000 home would pay $56.66 per month or $680 per year. The current levy taxes homeowners about $49.22 per month, or $590.66 per year.
A passing levy would allow the district to continue funding a wide range of programs and services, including K-12 athletics, visual and performing arts, outdoor education, counselors, nurses, mental health specialists, summer school, technology and more.
The levy would also provide a buffer to cover inflationary costs.
A levy failure, on the other hand, will likely result in budget cuts affecting teaching positions, school sports, art, music, counseling and more, according to the district.
During a Jan. 29 community forum, District Superintendent Lisa Grant said the school board had met numerous times to determine the right levy amount that was both sensitive to the community’s tax burden and the needs of the district’s students.
Board President Tim Browning said the board was cognizant of people’s financial situations and tried to be as conservative as possible.
“At the same time, we felt that we could not go backwards,” Browning said.
Centralia is no stranger to levy struggles. The school district passed its current levy in February 2024 after two failed attempts going back to February 2023. Those failures forced the district to cut $4.2 million from its 2023-24 budget, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
The district also failed to pass back-to-back levies in 2020, before passing one in April 2021.
If the proposed levy does fail, the district will have to decide whether to reduce the proposed tax rate. That was the ultimate strategy used after the last two back-to-back failures.
Washington state allows school districts to run up to two EP&O levies in a calendar year.
On Wednesday, Grant said the district was still hopeful it would receive good news once the remaining votes were tallied that afternoon, but expressed disappointment in the early numbers.
The February special election also featured two EP&O levies from the Boistfort School District and the Onalaska School District. Both were passing at 77.08% and 55.10%, respectively, as of 1 p.m. Wednesday .
Out of the 20,914 registered voters available to vote in the three elections in Lewis County, only 6,837 cast votes, a turnout of roughly 33%.
That percentage is set to increase slightly in the coming days as more votes are counted.
