A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear staff, students, families and community members,

I want to share some information about our district budget, as we have already begun planning for next year, and about the two levies that you’ll see on the ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

Budget

You may remember we made some adjustments in the spring for this current school year (2025-26), and, as we shared at the time, it appears likely that challenges for public education will continue. Costs such as insurance, utilities and compensation continue to rise faster than new state revenue coming in.

Our state constitution says it is the state’s paramount duty to amply fund public education, but the legislature continues to struggle to meet this obligation.  In the last session, they increased the "levy lid" slightly, allowing districts to seek local approval for additional / supplemental funds, as we are doing this November election with our supplemental operations levy. This would help bring some support to our budget, but it will not solve all of our challenges.  More adjustments will need to be made.

Federal dollars are at risk, also; this challenge combined with higher costs and inflation, we are hoping the legislature makes some important adjustments and soon.

In the meantime, we will continue to focus on what we can control at the local level.

2025 Levies

We have two levies on the ballot this November. I want to emphasize that we don’t take lightly asking our community to consider ballot measures, neither do we take your support for granted. For better or worse, levies are funding mechanisms that help us pay for staff and keep our schools healthy, safe, functional and welcoming to all students and our community.

We are bringing forward a supplemental operations levy after the state legislature raised the levy lid, which is the amount districts can collect from their local community. While this levy wouldn’t necessarily solve all our budget woes, it will help greatly.

The facilities maintenance levy was put forward thanks to the thoughtful work of our capital levy planning committee last spring. The committee helped our district articulate the need for this levy, especially with funding uncertainties at the state and federal levels.

Here is a video focused on our facilities maintenance levy.

 

What else should you know about the facilities maintenance levy?

• When we stay on top of repairs, our educators can focus on students first.
• We take care of our schools – they are the community’s spaces, too.
• This levy helps preserve and protect funds for the classroom. Fixing broken heaters and roofs shouldn’t affect class size or our ability to invest in staff. 
• Nearly all of our schools will receive some benefit from the facilities maintenance levy, with the exception of those recently rebuilt or those slated to be replaced soon. See how your school will benefit. 

Please look out for our community newsletter InsideSchools for additional facts about our levies and what they fund.

For further reading, feel free to review our webpage, watch other videos and check out our frequently asked questions.

Registered voters should have received ballots by mail over the last few days.

Please vote by Tuesday, Nov. 4!

Greg Baker