Education funding is the top issue on the ballot at school districts across Southwest Washington in an upcoming special election. Voters will be asked to vote by Feb. 10 on levies from Pacific County on the coast to Klickitat County in the Columbia River Gorge.

In Longview, a proposed levy would raise money for school safety and security. A levy in Washougal would fund teachers, nurses and counselors. Another, in White Salmon, is looking for money for middle and high school athletics and alternative education programs.

Battle Ground seeks to fill a funding gap

Among the local proposals in this off-year election, a levy in Battle Ground would shore up funding for things like safety and security, special education, and sports in a district where two previous levies failed in 2025.

The district is hoping to fill a gap created by the failures of two previous levies, raising $43 million starting in 2027. Battle Ground Public Schools Director of Communications Amanda Richter said the funds are critical to the district. If it fails, the district will have to cut $20 million in each of the next two years, she said.

“It provides about 13% of our budget and pays for a variety of areas that the state doesn’t fund at all or fully fund,” she said.

If passed, the levy would pay for career and technical education programs for students when they graduate, and would help prepare kids for college. It would also help bring back some teachers and support staff who were laid off after the district’s double levy failure last year.

The levy would initially raise property taxes by about $1,000 per year on a $600,000 median-priced home in Battle Ground.

The Battle Ground levy’s tax rate would decrease in the coming years as more people move to the city and the total cost is spread out over a bigger pool of taxpayers.

Opponents argue that Battle Ground voters should reject the proposal and encourage Washington state to pay for school programs instead.

That would be “painful in the short term, but necessary,” reads a ballot statement opposing the levy by Richard Rylander on the website Southwest Washington Education.

State budget choices, mandates create challenges for schools

But state lawmakers are already trying to fill a multi-billion-dollar deficit this legislative session in Olympia.

Washington pays less for public education than many other states around the country, according to state Superintendent Chris Reykdal.

Commenting on Gov. Bob Ferguson’s 2026 supplemental budget in December, Reykdal said Washington ranked 40th nationally for K-12 investments in public education as a percent of the state’s total economy.

“If this state was funding education similar to the rest of the country, on average, we’d have $4 billion more a year invested,” Reykdal said.

The Battle Ground levy is also a response to unfunded mandates from Washington state, according to Richter. She said the district estimates it is required to pay between $17 million and $29 million per year for programs required by the state.

For example, the district will have to pay benefits for transportation contractors next year, which it expects will cost about $2 million annually, she said.

“They’re still unfunded mandates, not only new ones but ones that have been in place for a long time that we would still need to meet or be at risk of losing state apportionment, which is the bulk of the funding that we receive,” Richter said.

Details for the Battle Ground levy, and others across Southwest Washington, can be found online.

Ballots will be mailed out on Jan. 23.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/23/southwest-washington-districts-election/