Statement on Legislative Session Outcomes
from Superintendent Steve Webb
April 29, 2019
The state’s consensus budget and legislation to raise the levy lid for school districts were passed shortly before the midnight deadline on Sunday.
VPS needs time to evaluate the overall impact of the state’s budget before issuing public comments on its specific components.
We appreciate that legislators were receptive to our ongoing communication with them since last fall expressing our concerns about the projected budget shortfalls faced by VPS and most other districts in the state.
I especially want to thank Senator Annette Cleveland for her courageous advocacy and efforts to modify the regionalization factor for school districts in southwest Washington to improve the equity of the state’s new funding model.
In lieu of legislative support for increasing the regionalization funds, Senator Cleveland was able to secure a one-time appropriation for levy equalization assistance of $7 million each for Vancouver and Evergreen school districts in 2019-20.
Senator Cleveland is a champion for the students of southwest Washington.
The one-time LEA resources will reduce the scope of our projected budget shortfall and ease our transition to the state’s new funding model.