School district board considers new levy

Rodika Tollefson, KP News

With the Peninsula School District’s three-year maintenance and operations levy expiring in the spring of 2005, the school board is set to adopt a resolution at its December meeting to ask voters in February to approve a new levy. The levy funds educational and other programs that do not receive adequate state funding, according to district officials.

The draft of the 2006-2009 levy spending plan allocates the money toward curriculum development and K-12 staff, technology support and replacement, and staff development, among other line items.

“Many things need to be continued so we can keep the current level of services,” Deputy Superintendent Marcia Harris said at a public forum in November.

Following the addition of a new school district goal that focuses on academic success for struggling students, some of the funding would go toward programs to help those students.

Parents and high school students who attended the forum at the Key Peninsula Middle School expressed strong support of increased funding for co-curricular activities such as sports, saying that without those opportunities many children would not be as successful in school.

One Peninsula High School student said he did not have the opportunity to participate in sports in middle school and “hated all three years of it,” but his sports participation at the high school motivates him to come to school because he has the responsibility to his coach and teammates to be at practice.

“We have not had a discussion since 1996 about cutting middle school sports, that has not been on our radar,” Harris responded to the concerns.

The district was taking public input regarding the draft, with recommendations to be presented at the board’s Dec. 16 meeting. In order to hold an election in February, the board must adopt the resolution at that meeting. For details about the levy or the board meeting agenda, call the district at 857-6171