QUILCENE — Citing impacts to the overall budget, the Quilcene School Board is putting forward a measure for a replacement levy on the April ballot despite voters having failed to pass the same measure last month.
The Quilcene public school district was the only one on the North Olympic Peninsula that floated a measure in the Feb. 13 special election to see it shot down by voters.
The educational programs and operations levy, which needed 50 percent plus one vote to pass, failed by 51.5 percent.
On Feb. 23, the Quilcene School Board voted at a special meeting to place the exact same measure on the April 23 special election ballot, saying it needs the funds to keep many of the district’s programs running.
Quilcene School Board Chair Paul Mahan said board members had heard from the community that the measure initially failed due to a lack of communication.
“We have gotten a lot of feedback from the community that it wasn’t clear to them,” Mahan said. “The failures were due to a lack of communication. We put a lot of effort into coming up with what the community wanted and what we could work with.”
The replacement EPO levy would net the district $3.8 million through 2028 and help pay for such programs as athletics, arts education and the district preschool.
If it passes, the levy would be $904,537 in 2025, increasing incrementally to more than $1 million in 2028.
While the annual levy amount would increase each year, the amount taxed would remain the same for all four years of the levy at $1.35 per $1,000 of assessed property value. The current levy is $1.14 per $1,000.
The district must submit its budget to the state by July 15, Mahan said, and without the levy, the district is not eligible for other funding sources from the state such as money from timber lands of local effort assistance funding.
“We lose access to that funding if we don’t have the EPO,” said Ron Moag, interim superintendent for the district. “That’s really one of the key things that allow us to do the programming and educational experience for our students that they deserve.”
The resolution requests a collection of $904,537 in 2025, $949,764, in 2026, $997,253 in 2027 and $1,047,115 in 2028.
The levy resolution is currently the only item on the April election ballot in Jefferson County. About 1,622 ballots will be mailed.
“If it doesn’t pass, there’ll be significant cuts to our enrichment programs, anything that is not basic education,” Mahan said, including arts education, athletics and the district preschool.
“All these things are at least partially or fully funded by the levy,” Mahan said.
There was strong support for the levy at the special meeting, and Mahan said the board believes the measure will pass if put before voters a second time.
“We do, or we wouldn’t run it,” Mahan said. “It’s very very important to the school.”
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Reporter Peter Segall can be reached at peter.segall@pensinsuladailynews.com.