Funding for education in the state of Washington is complicated and can lead to confusion about how schools receive the money needed to operate. The state of Washington is required to supply school districts with state funding for “basic education,” which is based on what is referred to as a “prototypical model.” Unfortunately, in most cases, that model falls short in covering what communities expect from their schools. When that happens, districts rely on local levies to bridge the funding gap, and they often look to ESD 112 Communications to help communicate information about the proposed levy. We chatted with Monique Dugaw and Heidi Barnes about what levy communications look like and why levies are so important to student learning.
