Board asks voters to approve lower levy amid job cuts planned for Ferndale schools
The Ferndale School District is cutting 102 positions for the next school year as its school board asks voters to reconsider an operations levy that they turned down in February.
If approved in the Nov. 3 election at a lower rate of $1.50 per thousand of assessed value for two years, the levy would allow the district to restore some programs and reduce the need for cuts in the future, according to a district news release issued on Wednesday, June 17.
It wasn’t immediately clear on Wednesday how many employees would be affected by the cuts in 102 positions.
The levy measure needs a simple majority to pass. It would replace an operations levy ending this year.
If approved, the owner of a home assessed at $375,000 would pay about $562.50 a year starting next year.
This year’s rate is $2.17 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value — or $813.75 in property tax money for a home assessed at $375,000.
The school district has about 4,700 students in grades preschool through 12.
“We recognize these are difficult times for our community and our nation. However, after a levy failure in February we need to again ask our community to consider approving our local levy, which allows us to help pay for school staff, programs, technology and student services and opportunities,” Ferndale School Board President Andrew McLaurin said in a prepared statement.
All seven school districts in Whatcom County asked their voters to approve four-year levies in the Feb. 11 special election.
Officials said the levies were critical to their efforts to educate children and pay for technology, and they helped bridge the gap between what the state provides for education and what it actually costs.
Levy history
Ferndale’s was the only levy request to fail in Whatcom County. That was at the rate of $2.50 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value for four years.
A couple of weeks later, the school board announced that the measure would go back before the district’s voters in an April 28 special election. That was at a rate of $2.17 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value for two years.
In mid-March, the school district announced that it was postponing the vote because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
K-12 schools in Washington state have been closed since March 17 and learning moved online to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
In April, the school district said it would be affected when Alcoa’s Intalco Works aluminum smelter closes and lays off 700 employees in July, but it was too soon to say at that time what the extent of that impact would be.
In its announcement on April 22, Alcoa Corp. said the decision to close its smelter near Ferndale was based on declining market conditions.
The U.S. economy entered a recession in February, driven by government efforts to stop the spread of the pandemic, and how long it will last is unknown.
