All Grays Harbor County school districts have passed their levies in last week’s special elections. The Grays Harbor County Elections Office reported a 28 percent voter turnout on Feb. 13, but that will increase slightly with ballots that were mailed on election day.
This means schools will receive the additional funding from local property taxes that assists with sustaining a wide variety of basic operations and extracurricular programs. Although the state will be implementing new policies in September that attempt to fully fund students’ general education, it’s unclear how much of current school offerings will be covered by it.
Aberdeen and Hoquiam school districts both passed their levies fairly easily, with approval rates of 59.92 percent for Aberdeen and 62.07 percent for Hoquiam. The Grays Harbor Fire District number 4 also passed its levy for emergency services, as well as District 7 which passed two separate measures for Ambulance Transport Service EMS and Ambulance Transport Service. Here are the school districts that passed levies in the special election:
Aberdeen, Hoquiam, North Beach, McCleary, Elma, Taholah, Lake Quinault, Cosmopolis, Satsop, Wishkah Valley, Mary M Knight and Oakville.