Southwest Washington Education (K-12)

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Why vote no on the Battle Ground School District levy? Updated Jan 24, 2026

Update Jan 24, 2026

BGSD Student Headcount

Question

I see a number of 13,000+ students claimed in the district. However, when I look at your last report of October 2025 and even the one you will present on Jan 26th I don’t see anything that is over 13,000.

https://go.boarddocs.com/wa/bgps/Board.nsf/files/DQLMQ95C3BBD/$file/Enrollment%20Board%202025-26%20as%20of%20DEC%202025.pptx%20(1).pdf

Is it number that combines several charts data? When I approach this as a normal person in the community I look at FTE and Headcount. I also use the last completed year since those are known. I also note that the highest numbers are in Dept/Oct with June as the lowest this years data is subject to change (historical drop).

I am trying to understand the apparent discrepancy.

Response

The combined headcount is for our preschool students, running start only students (not attending on campus but being served by high school counselors etc), K-12 students (through age 22 for special education), open doors program, and TK. If you combine all these categories you get to the 13,000+. A student headcount is only counted one time. My report doesn’t combine all the different categories for headcounts.OPSI data dashboard shows 13,103 at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year for all categories. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Discussion

  1. The 13,100 students is as of September 2025 which is the highest of the year. Look at the historical data for the last 5 years, by the end of School (June), the headcount drops.
  2. That 13,000 number includes students who do not use (or reduced usage) resources. Should those be included with full time attendance students? (Editor: seems wrong)
  3. The way the number is derived is in no way able to be determined by the public. The only usable numbers are the published reports.

Originally published at ClarkCountyToday.com

Clark County resident Dick Rylander offers his insights on the Battle Ground School District levy on the Feb. 10 special election ballot

Dick Rylander 
for Clark County Today

It’s a matter of money, results and fear. The 2027-2030 total proposed EP&O Levy would be $189,510,000. The previous four-year levy was $115,700,000. The difference between the expiring and proposed = $73,810,000 which is an increase of 63.79 percent.

The inflation rate for the 2022-2025 time frame was 15.8 percent. The previous four-year levy was $115,700,000 x 1.158 percent (inflation rate) = $133,980,000 to stay even. The new proposed levy of $189,510,000 minus expiring four-year adjusted for inflation is $133,980,000 which is an increase of $55,530,000 above inflation.

The levy that failed two times last year would have generated $166,275,000. The new proposed levy, at $189,510,000, is $23,235,500 higher. So waiting a year increased the “ask” by $23 million. That appears to be close to the amount that was projected to be cut before the district got an extra $6 million from the state.

Teacher contract negotiations start in 2026. If this levy passes it’s reasonable to assume, based on past history, that a significant portion of this Operations Levy will go to personnel costs. When we look at student headcount for 2024/25 we went from 12,162 in September down to 12,038 in June for a LOSS of 124 students. Test scores show 25 percent are failing English Language; 31 percent are failing Math and 25 percent are failing Science. Only 81.2 percent graduate.

In the last 10 years the amount of money being spent per student is near or exceeding $20,000 per student per year. For that amount of money what do we see when we look at testing results? Here’s a link to the OSPI district data: https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/100018

What do we see?

First, they changed the way they report the data to try and make it look better. Student performance of Level 2 was below expectations. Now, they combined 2 with 3 and 4 in an effort to make the numbers look better. Let’s look at the scores for 4th and 8th grade (you can choose English Language or Math).

What does the data say? English 48.4 percent are failing. Math 56.8 percent are failing. Science 61.6 percent are failing.

Attendance is down significantly in the past seven years. Why aren’t students attending class?

Graphic 

What does the chart above say? Class sizes are small and the ratio is near optimum. So, why are the test results so poor?

Where does most of the money go? Over 80 percent of the entire budget goes to personnel. How much do teachers and principals and admin and other positions make? The best data we have access to is only through 2023-2024 (so it’s 2–3 years old). Take a look for yourself and look up specific people: https://fiscal.wa.gov/K12/K12Salaries

We love high quality people and think they should be well compensated. However, like all jobs, people get burned out but the unions protect their members. There is no competition. It’s a state run monopoly. Less than 20 cents of every dollar goes to facilities, utilities and other upkeep and services. It’s worth noting that the median income for individuals in the Battle Ground School District is less than teachers make. Nearly two-thirds of households in the district have no students in the school system.

Do you want your money spent on DEI? Male athletes in female sports? Pronouns? Or would you prefer a focus on core education?

Data: https://schooldataproject.com/battle%20ground%20school%20district 

Summary

The state increased taxes last year by about $9 billion … and are going into session as this article is published to apparently ask for more. Do you have more to give? Washington state is now one of the most expensive in the nation.

The estimated cost per school district for the February 2026 Special Election is below:

  • Battle Ground School District – approximate allocated cost is between $210,000-230,000.
  • Hockinson School District – approximate allocated cost is between $25,000-35,000.
  • Washougal School District – approximate allocated cost is between $60,000-70,000.

We all love our children. The state takes so much in taxes already why not have the state pay the bill so there are no local levies at all? The only way to make that happen is to vote no and force the state’s hand. Yes it’s painful in the short term but necessary. More details at www.swweducation.org

 

 

 

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