When Jack Schwab and his family moved from Seattle to Whidbey five years ago, he initially worried the Oak Harbor School District wouldn’t be able to offer his daughter the same high quality education and enrichment opportunities an urban school district would.
Though rural school districts are having a harder time staying afloat amid the current public education crisis, Schwab now believes his daughter is actually getting a better education in Oak Harbor than she would have in Seattle.
A special election on Feb. 11, however, could change a lot.
Schwab, the campaign manager for Citizens for Better Schools, is among parents, district staff members and officials encouraging community members to mark the “yes” box on the proposed levy in the ballot, ensuring Oak Harbor’s youths continue to have access to services and opportunities that are partially funded or unfunded by the state.
The current levy, set to expire at the end of the year, supplements 12% of the district’s budget. If voters choose not to renew it, the district would be left barebones, unable to cover the costs of athletics, arts, small classes, special education, nurses, mental health counselors, librarians, safety enhancements, technology and more.
According to Communications Officer Sarah Foy, the levy serves to maintain the programs and services the district already has — which, though vital, are still struggling to fully support students and staff — rather than to add more.
The proposed levy would collect taxes at the estimated rate of $2.28 per $1,000 of assessed property value, or $16.99 million in 2026, $17.68 million in 2027, $18.387 million in 2028 and $19.122 million in 2029, according to the levy webpage. Voters won’t be voting on the rate, which could vary and be lower, but on the amount to be collected each year.
Jay Turner, an athletic coordinator, coach and math teacher who has been working in the district for about 29 years, has seen what schools look like without the support of local dollars.
When he first joined the district in the late 1990s, there were no computers, calculators or phones in the classroom, hot lunches were not provided and sports were so limited that the modest number of participating athletes had to pay a fee in order to compete.
Even the smaller rural districts he had previously worked at were offering more than Oak Harbor did, he recalled.
But since the first levy was approved in 2001, the student experience has greatly improved.
Sports have been a particular source of pride among the schools and the community, drawing more students every year. Whereas the track program counted 45 to 50 students before the first levy could finally fund operations and more coaches, Turner said, it now has reached almost 180 participating athletes.
Volleyball has also seen a boom in interest, according to Foy, who said the recent volleyball tryouts at the middle school were attended by 129 students — all of whom were accepted into the program.
On top of teaching life skills like teamwork and leadership, Turner finds that sports are what keep many students from failing their classes, as athletes can only compete if they have good grades.
Along with art, music and other programs, sports play a vital role in the students’ academic success and mental wellbeing. Despite this, Turner said, athletics are not funded by the state. In fact, they are entirely supported by the levy as the state sees them as “extra.”
With the state requiring school districts to implement new programs and policies without providing the necessary financial support, districts have been forced to cut beloved extracurricular programs, like band, to support other underfunded priorities, like special education.
Without extracurriculars being offered for free at the school, many low-income families would not be able to afford the limited courses and activities offered outside the school system, said Samantha Horrobin, a concerned parent.
“No amount of fundraising is going to be able to replace levy funding,” she said.
Furthermore, without the funding to hire new bus drivers, the district won’t be able to provide transportation to children attending after-school activities, Director of Transportation Catherine Gutierrez said in a previous story.
The district is already suffering from the shortage of bus drivers and the subsequent combination of multiple routes. Without the levy money, she expects the district will have to merge more bus routes, resulting in longer commutes in crammed buses and bad student behavior.
As mental health becomes a bigger concern around the nation, Mental Health Counselor Joycelin Vester predicts the loss of activities would lead students to losing their sense of purpose and channeling their emotions in unhealthy ways, even resulting in more criminal activity.
Horrobin and Schwab from Citizens for Better Schools both believe the levy would benefit all of Whidbey, as a better funded school district can attract skilled professionals and their families to the island, bringing services — like specialized health care — that people already need to seek off island.
While providing a wide variety of programs despite budget restrictions, Oak Harbor also stands out for having a higher than average population of students with disabilities, in part because NAS Whidbey Island is an Exceptional Family Member Program Base and many Navy families enroll their disabled children in the district, exceeding what the state funds for special education.
Allie Hanford, a Navy spouse whose fourth grader son is in special education, said her husband has taken multiple sea tours back-to-back so their child could continue attending school in Oak Harbor, where the program and teachers have had outstanding effects on his development.
Despite the state’s inability to fully fund this program and other health services, the district has done the best it could with the resources available.
Vester, for example, is one of only three mental health counselors serving over 5,400 students across all the schools. Two of them are funded by the district, while a third one is funded by Northwest Educational Service District 189, she said.
Even with the current levy providing support for these services, the counselors are stretched thin, but are able to manage and prevent crises thanks to a collaboration involving teachers, office staff, administrators, janitors and other adults who have the student’s best interest at heart, she said.
Vester sees an average of 8 to 10 students on a daily basis, often supporting kids during lunch and after school activities, which she is happy to do because she loves her job.
To support more students amid concerns of violent behavior in the schools, Vester has been providing group sessions where students learn how to self-regulate and feel validated. So far, she said, this initiative has been successful.
“We are busy all day,” Vester said. “We don’t complain because everyone is doing the best they can.”
Ideally, Foy said, the district would be able to provide more mental health support across all schools, but that would be hard to achieve if the state does not fully fund health services in general.
The levy also funds one nurse at each school, she said. Despite the high number of pupils with diabetes and other chronic health conditions, the state doesn’t fully fund support for these vulnerable students.
Foy expects the district will have to make tough decisions in the budget process if the levy does not pass, further complicating an already challenging situation.
According to the Island County Elections Office, no one came forward with a statement opposing the levy.
Ballots are set to be mailed this Friday. For more information about the levy renewal, visit ohsd.net/levy.