SEQUIM — Community members will have a chance to prioritize school programs — and discuss a higher property-tax levy to pay for them — during a public meeting Wednesday night.
Sequim School District Superintendent Bill Bentley urged local residents, parents or not, to participate in the forum at 6 p.m. in the Sequim High School library, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Attendees will be invited to “engage in an exercise relative to preparing for a levy,” Bentley said.
The Sequim School District Board of Directors is expected to vote to hold a levy election in February.
The current school maintenance and operations levy, approved by voters in 2006, will expire Dec. 31, 2010.
Depends on levy money
The Sequim School District, which stretches from Gardiner on the east to Blue Mountain Road to the west, depends on levy dollars to help fund teacher salaries, student health and safety services, academic materials and technology, staff training, extra-curricular activities, special programs and school bus service.
During Wednesday’s public session, participants will look at three possible levy rates, Bentley added, and choose school program sets that would be funded at each of the three levels.
In the discussion, the public “will be in the shoes of the [school] board members,” he said.
Bentley is also asking Sequim-area residents to spend about five minutes filling out a survey available on the district’s Web site, www.sequim.k12.wa.us.
Rank programs
The questionnaire asks respondents to rank various school programs such as art, music and online courses, updated technology and textbooks and continuing education for staff in order of importance.
Paper copies of the survey will be available at Wednesday’s meeting.
Community members will have other opportunities to give input at meetings throughout the school year, Bentley said.
The Sequim School Board is scheduled to discuss a new levy rate and election date at its meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 in the board room inside Sequim High School’s Performing Arts Center building.
For more information, phone the district office at 360-582-3260.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.