Central Kitsap school support levy failing by slim margin in preliminary results
Central Kitsap School District's two-year school support levy was failing by a small margin Tuesday night as the Kitsap County Auditor's Office released special election vote totals.
Out of 14,628 votes counted, 7,335 (50.15%) were against the levy, while 7,292 supported it. The levy, if passed, would allow the school district to seek $1.50 per $1,000 in assessed value on all taxable property within the district, raising as much as $20 million per year in 2023 and 2024. Central Kitsap's existing three-year operations levy runs out in 2022.
This is the second time in the past three months Central Kitsap School District — the largest school district in Kitsap County with over 11,000 students — has put a school levy before voters. A total of 15,024 voters cast ballots in February. In that election, the measure failed, with 7,727 votes (51.4%) against the levy and 7,297 votes (48.6%) for it.
More ballots could arrive in the coming days in the all-mail election. Voters had to return their ballots by 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
It's not out of the question that late-arriving ballots could swing things in favor of Central Kitsap's levy passing. In November 2021, North Mason School District saw its school support levy failing by 14 votes after preliminary results. It ended up passing by a count of 2,561 votes for to 2,533 votes against.
Central Kitsap School District Superintendent Erin Prince provided the following statement to the Kitsap Sun on Tuesday night:
"We’ll be watching the results over the next few days, and we’re hopeful that our community will once again renew its support of our schools and students," Prince said. "We’ve spent the past two months sharing information about how we use levy dollars and the difference they make in our schools. We are hoping for the best as we await the final results."
Jennifer Jones, chair for the committee that crafted the argument against the levy in the local voters' pamphlet, agreed that Tuesday's results were too close to call.
"Either way the vote goes, people need to pay attention to where the money is coming from and how the district is spending it," Jones said. "School board members and citizens need to question everything the district brings before them. CKSD needs to come through on its promises of transparency, measurable outcomes, and strategic planning to address failing scores. Most importantly, people need to be involved in holding the district accountable to our students, families, and taxpayers. The first step and easiest way to be involved is to attend school board meetings."
After February's levy failure, CKSD attempted to better inform levy voters by holding Facebook Live question-and-answer sessions and in-person community forums. During a forum March 21 at Klahowya Secondary School, Assistant Superintendent Doug Newell said the district had to prepare for two outcomes as April 26 approached.
“We are making a couple different scenarios: one for the levy passing and one for the levy not passing," Newell said. “We are going to have to make tough choices. There are some things that are 'must-fund,' but, bottom line, (a levy failure) will impact our students’ learning at some level across the district.”
Newell said a levy failure would not only result in roughly $18 million in funding lost in 2023, but CKSD would not qualify for an estimated $11 million in federally apportioned Heavy Impact Aid, which the school board has designated for maintaining and repairing buildings, and $1.5 million in state-apportioned Local Effort Assistance. Those two funding sources disappear without a local levy in place.
The last time Central Kitsap School District experienced a double levy failure was 1994.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Central Kitsap school support levy failing by slim margin in preliminary results
