Vote yes to renew Vashon’s school levy

Published 10:30 am Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Pop quiz time, Vashon! What do school athletes, custodians and substitute teachers on our island have in common?

They are all funded by Vashon’s Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) Levy, which is coming up for renewal in February. It is time to vote yes for Vashon’s school levy!

As with districts across the state, every four years, Vashon is presented with an opportunity to recommit support to the island’s children, teachers, and support staff at Vashon Island School District (VISD). The levy provides critical school funding to meet the shortfall caused by the state’s funding model, which does not cover the full cost of educating our children.

Unique to small communities like Vashon is the understanding that, in supporting our schools and children, we are lifting up our island as a whole. Friday night dinner out might be served by a student who plays on Vashon High School’s levy-funded soccer team. The mom dropping her daughter off at ballet is also a member of the special education team funded by the levy to serve students with disabilities.

Levy-funded custodial staff help reduce the spread of illness in the community. On an island as small as ours, it is easy to see that ensuring our school district is adequately funded is important, not only for our children, but for our whole community.

Vashon has a long history of supporting our children and schools. Proposition 1 is not a new tax. It is a renewal, at the existing rate, of the local levy that Vashon has been supporting for many years to help cover the gap between the state’s funding model and the realities of district staffing needs and costs.

This inadequate state funding is why most districts throughout the state require a local levy to operate. For Vashon, the state provides a mere $35,000 to hire substitute teachers, which is about 10% of what the district spends each year to ensure students can keep learning when teachers are sick.

The remaining 90% is covered by this levy. For a district of our size, the state finances a school psychologist for eight hours a week. Funds from the levy allow VISD to expand that to a full-time position to help students address psycho-social challenges and barriers to their academic success.

Likewise, state funding covers only 5.1 custodians for our entire district. The levy has enabled the hire of three additional custodians to care for our schools.

To say that the EP&O Levy touches every VISD student, the majority of the island’s children, is not a stretch. Levy funds comprise roughly 17% of the district’s budget. This includes 10 teachers, 20% of all employee benefits, facilities and grounds maintenance, special education supports, and all school-based athletics.

In this way, it also touches all islanders, as VISD staff are a part of the fabric of our community and, when Vashon’s children thrive, they grow up to be the people who continue to make Vashon the incredible community it is.

We know that Vashon cares deeply about the children growing up in this special place we call home.

Please join us in ensuring our island public schools have the resources they need to help students thrive, for our kids and our community.

Endorsed by Vashon Schools Foundation (VSF) and Vashon Parent Teacher Organization (Vashon PTO), please join us and vote yes on Prop. 1 to renew the EP&O Levy by Feb. 10!

Maria Porter Steward, Vashon PTO board member and Kennedy Leavens, VSF board member, both serve on the Vashon Yes for Kids Committee.