By Susan Baird-Joshi, JHS PTSA Advocacy Chair, sdbj.pta@gmail.com

You probably received Lake Washington School District's "Building on Success" four-page color flier in the mail about school building projects in the district. The cover page featured Juanita High School! The LWSD Facility Advisory Committee will present its findings about aging school buildings, student education needs and population growth to the School Board in 2021. Kamiakin Middle School opened in 1975 and was included in the Feb. 13, 2018 bond measure that failed. Future bonds are planned for 2022 and 2026.

Are you interested in keeping the JHS community up-to-date on building progress and local ballot funding measures? Please contact me or JHS PTSA President Kristen Dorwin about volunteering. The next possible year for a local bond or levy ballot measure is 2022.

The back cover of “Building on Success” explained how the district used the 2016 bond funds and 2019 capital levy funds. The district receives some funding from the state in the form of matching grants for construction. The bulk comes from bonds passed by school district voters during elections.

District funding for operations and education programs comes from many sources. In 2019-2020, 3.9% of revenues came from federal sources, and 4.2% came from fee programs. The bulk of funding came from state and local resources—76.9% from the state and 13.1% from an EP&O (Educational Programs and Operations) Levy. More than three-quarters of that revenue goes toward teaching. In 2019-2020, 78.3% went toward teaching. The district’s last EP&O levy passed in February 2018 with 54.56% of voters approving the measure. The levies run for four years. 

For more information:

To learn more about the  LWSD Facility Advisory Committee, please visit the LWSD web site,  https://www.lwsd.org/get-involved/standing-committees/facility-advisory-committee

To learn more about LWSD’s revenue sources and expenditures, please visit the “School Funding” page, https://www.lwsd.org/util-community/school-funding 

For a history of LWSD bond and capital levy ballot measures since 2010, see the “Past Ballot Measures & Projects” on the district’s web site. https://www.lwsd.org/programs-and-services/facilities/construction/past-ballot-measures-projects

Past ballot measures are on King County’s Elections web site, https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/how-to-vote/ballots/whats-on-the-ballot/ballot-measures/past-ballot-measures.aspx 

Election results are on the King County Elections web site, https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/results.aspx

 Respectfully submitted,

 Susan Baird-Joshi