Coupeville school levies on the Feb. 10 ballot

Published 1:30 am Friday, January 23, 2026

The Feb. 10 special election poses an important decision for Coupeville residents.

Voters will have the choice to cast ballots for the renewal of two levies in support of the Coupeville School District in the February Special Election. These levies must be reapproved by the public every four years.

The Educational Programs and Operation levy pays for athletics, clubs, staffing, curriculum, social-emotional support and career and technical opportunities, and the Capital Technology levy funds building repairs, maintenance, learning technology and security systems, according to the Coupeville School District’s website.

“While these are four-year levies, they represent a long term investment in the next generation of Coupeville students,” Coupeville School Board President Morgan White wrote to the News-Times. “I see the impact of our schools every day through Coupeville graduates who work in local restaurants, county offices, the hospital, fire department, construction trades and grocery stores generously giving their time, talents and service back to our community. I also see graduates who leave Coupeville to attend colleges, join the military, pursue trades and build careers across the state, the nation and the world carrying with them the values, skills and sense of community they learned here.”

Every Washington school district uses local levies to supplement students after state funds have been exhausted. Unlike bonds that are larger upfront payments to fund construction projects, levies fund day-to-day operations to improve student learning. Coupeville schools receive 16% of its funding from local levies, the school website states. The rest of its money comes from state and federal funding, according to the school district’s website.

“While some increases have been made in state funding, it has not kept pace with the rising costs of materials, utilities, technology and the needs of our students,” Superintendent Shannon Leatherwood wrote. “Levy funding pays staff salaries and allows us to keep class sizes low. Many programs that our community has come to expect rely on levy funding.”

Yet not everyone in the Coupeville community is promoting passage of the measure. Last year, Coupeville resident David Mahaffy filed a “petition to appeal a ballot title” in superior court and succeeded in getting the word “necessary” removed from the language.

Mahaffy also volunteered to write the “statement against” the replacement levies, stating that school spending is on an unsustainable trajectory.

“Overall, Coupeville school district spending has risen about 22% in the last five years — that’s higher than the inflation rate during the same period, which includes high inflation in the post-pandemic years,” he wrote.

Longtime sports reporter and blogger David Svien, however, voiced his support for the two replacement levies on his website. Svien has been covering sports in Coupeville since he graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1990, he said. The EP&O levy will cover operations, staffing and transportation for athletics and clubs, which otherwise isn’t covered by the state.

Over the past couple of months, Svien has participated in a group that meets to discuss the facilities in the Coupeville School District. Witnessing the behind-the-scenes work of the Coupeville School District’s operations has deepened his appreciation for what district employees, on every level, accomplish daily.

“Levies like this like are this hugely influential in a small town like Coupeville where we’re not getting enough. I mean, no school is getting enough from the from state, but particularly small schools desperately need this. And you see every day with our teachers and our coaches and our administrators how hard they work and how much they have to do with the limited resources that they have,” Svien told the News-Times.

The levy renewals are estimated to increase property taxes by $110 per year for a property valued at $500,000, Leatherwood wrote in an email. As the superintendent, she said, she can’t push residents to support or oppose a district ballot measure, but she wouldn’t be requesting funding measures that aren’t necessary, she reasoned.

“The decision to ask for this increase was one that was taken very seriously by the board and district leadership. We want to ensure flexibility to bring back programs that have been cut and meet the needs of students now and into the future,” Leatherwood said. “These are the only taxes that stay directly in our community, 100% of this funding goes into Coupeville schools.”

Learn more about the levies at coupeville.k12.wa.us/levy.

Drop off your ballot at the official ballot drop box on 400 N Main Street, Coupeville, or at any other official ballot drop box location in Washington state. Alternatively, ballots may be mailed at least seven days before Feb. 10.