PORT ANGELES — Ed Tuttle said he isn’t against the upcoming Port Angeles School District’s maintenance and operations tax levy.
But the Port Angeles activist and member of an ad-hoc organization calling itself the School Advisory Group said he is opposed to the district’s administration, which he says isn’t doing enough to raise the academic performance of students.
“My view is that we need to change the administration in the current school system,” Tuttle said Wednesday.
“The only way that these people are going to listen is to take their money away.”
Ballots in the all-mail levy election are being mailed to voters on April 27 and are due back by May 17.
Other members of the loosely knit group of activists independent of the school district also said in interviews Wednesday that they aren’t necessarily against the levy, which is designed to fund about 17 percent of the district’s operating budget — approximately $6 million — for each of the next two school years.
Instead, they said they have serious issues with the administration — from its transparency to how much money is being asked for in the current levy — that should make people think twice before voting yes.
Campaign through ads
One example of their campaign to get this message across to voters are two separate ads purchased by Tuttle and Mike Brown — founder of the School Advisory Group — that have appeared in the Peninsula Daily News.
The one bought by Tuttle was titled, “Don’t Panic.”
“The sky will not fall if you vote no on the Port Angeles levy,” said the ad. “Sequim [School District] survived with a levy failure, and so can we!
“With the money saved from the PA levy taxes, people can donate money to the schools to cover these programs!”
Tuttle’s ad was in response to the School Board saying it will have to cut extracurricular programs, such as music and all athletics, and about 20 teaching positions if the levy fails again.
Brown’s ad — which he paid $400 for out of his own pocket — compared Port Angeles and Sequim school districts, showing how Sequim measures up to Port Angeles even though the levy amount charged to property taxpayers in Sequim ($1.10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation) is less than half of what Port Angeles is asking of voters ($2.98 per $1,000).
Meanwhile, levy supporters will be arguing their side in future newspaper ads.
At the Monday Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce luncheon, businesswoman and motivational speaker Cherie Kidd began soliciting donations from fellow Port Angeles High School graduates for an ad that will support the levy’s passage.
