School levy rejection will mean ‘bare-bones education’ for 2 Tri-Cities districts
Budget cuts could be in the works at two Mid-Columbia school districts after special election voters resoundingly rejected $10 million in local taxes to fund public education, sports and technology upgrades.
But before administrators begin slashing budgets for the upcoming 2025-26 school year, Finley and Kiona-Benton City school districts will have one last shot to appeal to voters before the end of the calendar year.
Finley School District will look to trim $2 million from next school year’s budget if it does not secure that funding. Its two-year, $4.5 million replacement operations levy failed in Tuesday night’s special election.
Separately, its capital levy to pay for $400,000 in improvements to campus security and technology also failed.
Superintendent Bryan Long told the Herald the initial results were disappointing, but that he hoped later votes would show more support for public education.
The Achilles’ heel for them was voter turnout. Fewer than 600 of the 3,000 registered voters who live within the district have had their ballots tallied so far.
The levy is essential to providing quality education in Finley schools, Long said. Combined with a state match, the levy makes up 12% of the district’s budget. Stripping those funds would mean fewer support staff, teachers and district employees.
“Without the levy dollars, we will be down to bare-bones education,” Long said, adding, “It takes all of us to work together to achieve together.”
The Finley School Board will convene a special meeting 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, to consider its next steps.
Updated results with ballots cast late on election day will be made available at 4 p.m. Thursday, Benton County Elections Division says.
About 10,500 ballots have been counted so far and about 5,500 remain. The Feb. 11 special election ballot also included a failed sales tax measure to fund an arts center in Richland.
Ki-Be’s school levy also failing
Kiona-Benton City’s two-year, $4.9 million replacement levy also failed.
Superintendent Pete Peterson declined to comment Wednesday on the vote, saying he preferred to wait until after Thursday’s count to make a statement. The district will meet to put a plan together after that.
It’s unclear what cuts at Ki-Be would look like. Their programs and operations levy pays for sports, counselors, nurses, music, special and basic education teachers, technology and other extra-curricular activities. Local dollars make up about 8% of the district’s 2024-25 budget.
Without active levies, the two school districts are also leaving a combined $1 million in annual state “Local Effort Assistance” on the table. The program provides a match to property poor districts.
Local school districts have struggled in recent years to get voters to support renewing operation levies.
In 2023, Finley and Kennewick school districts both passed levies after experiencing historic double failures the year prior. A year without local support forced Finley to cut several programs. It paused curriculum adoptions and made cuts to several sports teams, among other savings.
Ki-Be experienced a double levy failure in 2020 before passing a measure at a reduced amount in 2021. The failure forced the district to cut $1.3 million from its budget, eliminating several positions and laying off a counselor and administrator, according to previous Herald reporting.
Turnout across Benton County is at 20% so far. Ballots were sent out to more than 51,000 registered voters.
Final results from the election will be certified by Friday, Feb. 21.
