One of the many reasons I love living in Lewiston is that we have a long history of supporting our public schools. Once again we have an opportunity to do so.
Since 1986, we voters have approved the supplemental levy to support our public schools. Currently this levy supplies 36% of the Lewiston School District’s general fund budget. The renewal of the levy will not raise our taxes. The levy is actually being renewed at a lower rate. This levy will not be used for new athletic venues.
The supplement levy provides funds for the district to pay for school resource officers and security cameras. Career technical education, band, choir and other programs are also made possible. The levy supports additional classified, special education and early childhood staff. Smaller class sizes are also possible because additional certified staff positions are funded.
Please support our Lewiston schools and vote in favor of the supplemental levy.
Early voting is open until Friday.
General voting will be March 14.
Strong schools — strong community.
Brian Mongo Larson
Lewiston
Learn about bond
The Clarkston School District is asking the community for approval on a bond to complete the vision for a Clarkston High School campus that would retain the more recent constructions of the Adams Building, Auditorium and Technology Building. This is a generational reinvestment that would replace the current 100-year-old building with modern classrooms designed with career academics in mind.
Over the last two years, the Clarkston School District along with a Design Advisory Committe, made up of a mix of educators and community members, carefully evaluated the educational needs of our students as well as the community’s workforce development priorities in considering how to reinvest in CHS. The process included an apples-to-apples comparison on the cost and educational impact of renovating the current classrooms and athletic facilities — which would require bringing everything up to modern building code, energy code, and seismic code — versus constructing a new school east of the auditorium.
To share the decision-making process and answer questions about the project, the Clarkston School District will host two more open house-style informational fairs this month.
The second informational fair will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Holiday Inn, 700 Port Drive.
The final information fair will be held at the Clarkston Valley Boys and Girls Club from 6:30-8 p.m. March 21.
If you have questions about the CHS bond, don’t miss these opportunities to have your questions answered. Transparency is key. If you’re feeling uninformed on making a decision of this magnitude, we invite you to attend.
