Battle Ground School District voters may want to take a closer look at the next time a political mailer arrives in their mailbox bearing a party’s name.
Political mailers claiming to have been paid for by the Washington state Republican Party and the Clark County Republican Party went to voters in the Battle Ground Public Schools district at the same time ballots landed in mailboxes for the Feb. 10 election. The Washington state Republican Party now says it had no role in anti-levy flyers sent to voters in the school district, despite the organization being listed on the mailer itself. Repeated requests for comment made last week to the Clark County Republican Party have gone unanswered as of press time.
The mailer presented information in an attempt to sway voters against approving the Battle Ground Public Schools Education, Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy, Proposition 10, in the Feb. 10 election. The last time BGPS went out for a levy renewal, a nearly identical mailer was sent to voters. Both the mailer opposing the April 2025 levy bid and the most recent one opposing the February 2026 levy bid misspelled “Republican” as “Rebuplican” on the front side.
Before a February article, The Reflector reached out to Clark County Republican Party (CCRP) Chair Matthew Bumala twice in January and once in February, but received no response. The Reflector also reached out to Vice Chair Aimee Vaile, who also serves as Battle Ground Deputy Mayor, for input on the mailer and an interview about why the CCRP sent the mailer and opposes the school levy in February, but received no response.
District officials said no representatives from either the state or county Republican parties reached out before or after the mailers were distributed, including during reporting of earlier coverage.
Following a town hall on March 28 in Battle Ground, The Reflector spoke with 18th District state Rep. Stephanie McClintock, who said she had shown one of the flyers to Washington state Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh. That interaction was later reflected in Walsh’s response to The Reflector last week.
“The Washington State Republican Party had no involvement in any way with the political flyer project you (mentioned),” he wrote back to The Reflector. “The text on the flyer stating otherwise is false. Any statement or document stating otherwise is false.”
The conflicting claims have raised new questions about the origin of the mailers and their impact on local voters, particularly as Battle Ground Public Schools faces difficult financial decisions following levy failures. The district is now considering up to $20 million in cuts, with only one more levy attempt possible this year.
Superintendent Shelly Whitten previously told The Reflector the mailers created confusion and frustration for the district, especially given the timing and lack of opportunity to respond.
“What I would love is, I would love that the individuals who put it together actually come and meet with me and have a conversation, because what I do welcome is dialogue. I want to have dialogue with our community,” she said in a previous Reflector article in February.
The mailers presented a range of claims about district finances, staffing, enrollment and student performance, many of which Whitten said were misleading or lacked key context.
One section compared pre-pandemic enrollment totals to more recent figures, suggesting a decline in student population. District data show enrollment dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic but has steadily recovered in the years since, with Battle Ground Public Schools among the few districts in the county to see consistent growth.
Financial comparisons in the mailer also drew criticism from Whitten. The flyer contrasted past and current spending totals to suggest a sharp increase, but according to district officials, those figures mixed projected budgets with actual expenditures and excluded costs tied to capital projects. Whitten said a more accurate comparison would show spending increases more closely aligned with inflation.
The mailer further questioned staffing levels, noting a decrease in teachers and an increase in classified staff. Whitten said those additional positions were tied to programs such as middle school sports, behavioral support and graduation coaching, many of which were later reduced or eliminated following levy failures.
Student performance data was also highlighted in the flyer, which framed state test scores as evidence of a failing district. Whitten said the mailer focused on college readiness benchmarks without acknowledging broader measures of grade-level proficiency or how the tests are used.
“Our test scores are at 71% for ELA, 64% for math, and 66% for science,” she said in a previous Reflector article in February. “And while those aren’t as high as I would like them to be, they are much better than the scores if you’re only looking at college and career-ready students.”
Whitten said the timing of the mailers made it difficult to respond before ballots were due, compounding frustration over what they described as incomplete or out-of-context information being presented to voters.
The Reflector made several attempts last week to contact the Clark County Republican Party, including outreach to Chair Matthew Bumala and Vice Chair Aimee Vaile. The day after the initial outreach, the receptionist who answered the party’s main line suggested that the message should be “more enticing” to prompt a response. When pressed, the receptionist directed The Reflector to leave a voicemail. No response was received by press time.
The Reflector has also reached out to the United States Postal Inspection Service to determine whether an investigation is underway and whether misrepresenting a political organization on campaign mail could violate mailing or election laws. No response has been received as of press time.
