Brinnon levy essential to small school district

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Brinnon School District No. 14 is asking voters to approve an educational programs and operations replacement levy during the Feb. 8 Special Election.

The levy is expected to bring in property tax revenues of $327,395 in 2023 to the district.

Property owners will see no increase in the 2022 levy amount of 92 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The levy rate will also decrease to 91 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2024, bringing in a total of $337,217.

“It’s a wiggly target,” said Brinnon Schools Superintendent Patricia Beathard, as exact numbers aren’t known until assessments occur.

In Brinnon, levy fees help pay for underfunded educational programs, as well as student counseling services, transportation, building improvements and repairs, fresh fruits and vegetables programs, among other priorities. Eighty students from kindergarten to eighth grade are enrolled in Brinnon Schools.

“In a little school like this, nothing is fully funded,” Beathard said.

She added that Brinnon kids who attend high school in Chimacum or Quilcene have to pay for their tuition, and levy monies help cover that expense, as well.

During the last levy cycle, monies were put toward the site prep and installation costs for a new modular building and a ramp for a grant-funded middle school building, with $70,000 allocated for a new school bus.

To supplement levy monies and to keep the cost to the taxpayers considerably lower than neighboring districts, Beathard said she and her colleagues apply for grants to help fund projects, but the process is “extremely involved.”

“What we’ve done really a pretty good job of is applying for facilities grants,” Beathard said, which allows the Brinnon School District to keep levy rates low.

“We bring in a lot of money that way,” she said. In the two school years, from 2018 to 2020, grants provided $453,240 for special projects at the school.

“We’re getting a $200,000 Healthy Schools-Healthy Kids grant for asbestos abatement replacement of the gym floor,” Beathard said of 2022 thus far.

“It’s an incredible amount of work, really,” Beathard said, but she believes in keeping levies affordable.

“I think we want to honor the taxpayers,” she said.

“A levy is something schools need,” Beathard said. “We’re set up to need that money.”