Battle Ground Public Schools Superintendent Shelly Whitten expressed gratitude and relief following the community’s support of the district’s replacement educational programs and operations levy, saying its passage will help restore programs and services that faced reductions amid financial uncertainty.
“We're just extremely grateful and relieved and appreciate our community coming together to support their schools and students,” Whitten said. “It just makes us feel really blessed.”
While results remained unofficial at press time in the Nov. 3 general election, after over 39,000 votes were counted, voters appear to have approved the levy with 20,606 votes for the levy, compared to 18,620 against the levy.
The educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy approved by voters will cost $1.76 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The levy’s approval marks a significant shift for the district, which had been preparing for the possibility of operating without local levy funding for the foreseeable future. While the passage will not immediately return the district to its financial position from several years ago, Whitten said it provides an opportunity to restore services identified as priorities by students, parents and community members.
Among those priorities are student safety and security, student well-being, academic support, job readiness, smaller class sizes, special education and athletics.
“We will be able to put many of those things back in place to better serve our students,” Whitten said.
Whitten said the district had been facing a difficult financial outlook if voters did not approve the levy, potentially threatening its ability to remain financially solvent.
The stakes extended beyond individual programs and staffing levels. Whitten said conversations with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction helped district leaders better understand the potential consequences of continued financial difficulties, including state financial oversight and binding conditions.
She also addressed concerns about the district potentially being absorbed by neighboring school districts, explaining that the more likely consequence could involve boundary changes that split Battle Ground schools among several districts.
“The realization of our schools being split up and given to different school districts, it's just a pretty disheartening realization, I guess,” Whitten said. “And so the fact that we can really, truly remain Battle Ground Public Schools to me is a huge thing.”
Although voters approved the levy, the district will not begin collecting the funds until April 2027. Whitten said the timing means the money will largely be directed toward the 2027-28 school year rather than making significant changes during the final weeks of the current school year.
District leaders will evaluate restoring positions and programs that experienced reductions, including security staff, assistant principals and opportunities within career and technical education and Advanced Placement courses.
Whitten said the district now has time to carefully evaluate where additional resources will have the greatest impact.
“We actually have some time to do careful planning about what will serve our students and community best in those areas that they said were most important to them,” she said.
Whitten also credited increased community engagement and conversations with residents as an important difference during this levy campaign. She said more residents reached out directly to schools and district officials with questions rather than relying solely on social media for information, often dotted with misinformation.
Whitten encouraged residents to continue communicating with the district as it moves forward.
“We want to continue that dialogue,” she said. “I think it makes us stronger together in a society when we're having strong communication, and we would welcome that and continue to welcome that as we move forward.”
