Friday Family Message
Hello Families
Thank you for your patience and understanding, as we experienced a very unpredictable week of weather!
It is a challenge to make the “right” call for snow days, but please know that student and staff safety is the most important factor in our early morning decision-making.
We are happy to report that our buildings are now fully operational due to the extraordinary efforts of our maintenance staff and the professional crews that specialize in repairing flood damage.
We will continue to work on how we can prepare for extreme weather, given the design of our buildings and the locations of our water pipes. These repairs are extensive and expensive. We will be working with our Community Facilities Advisory Committee (CFAC) to help advise our next steps, given limited capital improvement funding.
Thank you for your patience and help this week!
Answering our top 3 levy questions
Stanwood-Camano voters have asked us many insightful questions about our replacement levy on your ballots — many of which we address on our levy information webpage. But the top three questions by far are:
- Is this a new levy?
- How much will the levy cost me?
- What does the levy pay for?
ANSWER No. 1:
This levy is not a new, additional levy. It would simply replace the existing levy — something the community has done since 1964.
It's also not the same levy as the The Capital Maintenance and Technology Levy that voters rejected in 2022, which would have paid for building maintenance and technology upgrades. This replacement levy pays for staff and programs in every one of our school buildings to cover the gap between what the state provides and what we need.
ANSWER No. 2:
The school district is asking voters to approve a 4-year replacement levy at a rate of $1.42 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
How does our tax rate compare to neighboring districts?
- Arlington is asking for $1.65
- Lakewood is asking for $1.73
- Mount Vernon is asking for $2.50
However, an important thing to know is that levy collections differ greatly from state property tax collections.
We all know that when your property values increase, your state property taxes increase. But for levies, voters approve a capped amount of money that can’t increase. So that means if your property’s assessed value increases, the local levy rate decreases so that the school district doesn’t collect more than what voters approved (as illustrated in the animated graphic below).
ANSWER No. 3:
In short, the levy pays for things the state doesn’t consider part of its “basic education” funding model. That means it helps pay for things like sports, safety, instruction, nursing, and counseling.
More specifically, we rely on local levy dollars to help us reduce class sizes, enhance paraeducator classroom help, allows for small group interventions, provide for adequate supervision of students before/during/after school day, and fund most of our athletic programs and other student activities.
Without local levy funding, there would be layoffs and elimination of programs across our school district. Where and to what degree services are reduced would be decided later with input from students, staff, and the community as part of a Budget Reduction Plan.
New TK classroom taking shape
We're getting excited! Our newest Transitional Kindergarten classroom — starting later this month at Cedarhome Elementary — is coming together!
Crews were busy setting up equipment last week. Transitional Kindergarten (TK) is aimed at helping children who haven’t accessed preschool prepare for kindergarten. TK is a free, full-day early entrance kindergarten program for children who were 4 years old as of September 1, 2023.
Our TK program started in January 2023 at Twin City and Utsalady elementaries, and it quickly proved popular among Stanwood-Camano families.
Learn more on our Transitional Kindergarten webpage at https://www.stanwood.wednet.edu/tk
Lincoln Hill student in Olympia
Audrey LaPlante, a student at Lincoln Hill High School, recently served as a page in the Washington state House of Representatives.
Sponsored by Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor), Audrey helped with a wide variety of responsibilities, from presenting the flags to distributing amendments on the House floor. Pages support the efficient operation of the Legislature while also receiving daily civics instruction, drafting their own bills, and participating in mock committee hearings.
To learn more, visit the the House Page Program webpage.
Help us honor our staff
Please let us know about the extraordinary work our staff is doing by completing our simple form on our Employee Recognition Program webpage.
You can nominate a staff member for Classified or Certificated Employee of the Month. Heritage Bank is a proud sponsor of the employee recognition program in partnership with Stanwood and Camano-Island area businesses.
School Board update
The Stanwood-Camano School Board heard several updates on district efforts and honored a Stanwood High School Student with a Shining Star award during its regular board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 16.
Stanwood High School principal Mike Washington provided an update on its School Improvement and Action Plan and then presented its Shining Star Award to Trace Johnson. Congratulations Trace!
The school board also accepted three generous donations from our amazing community:
- $770 from the Twin City PTA to cover the transportation costs for field trips to the Stanwood Library, Camano Island Schoolhouse, Kayak Point, and the Kangaroo Outback Farm
- $1,000 from the Warm Beach Christian Camps & Conference Center in support of the food services program
- $1,500 from St. Aidans Episcopal Church in support of the Food Services program.
The next school board meeting is 1 p.m. Feb. 6.
A few reminders
Get social with us!
Please remember to follow the Stanwood-Camano School District on Facebook, Instagram, Nextdoor, and Twitter, and follow my tweets @rumbaughsupt.