The Washougal and Mount Pleasant school boards may soon consider shifting district boundaries.
The proposal, which has not yet been reviewed by either school board, would transfer an area currently in Washougal to Mount Pleasant. The rural area includes 28 residences with 18 students. Those students would be granted boundary exceptions for the remainder of their schooling and the Washougal School District would continue to provide transportation to its schools, said Teresa Baldwin, superintendent of both school districts.
The Washougal School District would lose about $17,000 in annual tax revenue should it transfer the land, Baldwin said.
The move would also mean the Mount Pleasant district and Skamania School District would share a boundary line. And that could prove beneficial for both of the small school districts as the future of Skamania County school districts remains uncertain.
The Washougal School District currently borders three sides of the Mount Pleasant district, with the Columbia River on the southern edge.
All four school districts in Skamania County — Mount Pleasant, Skamania, Carson-Stevenson and Mill A — receive federal forest funds to support their operations. Under the Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act, the federal funds will be discontinued in 2012 unless Congress reauthorizes the bill. The funding was originally set to expire in 2008 but lawmakers provided an extension.
The Mill A and Stevenson-Carson districts have already announced plans to ask voters to pass an operations levy to bridge the loss of funding.
Mount Pleasant officials are still reviewing their options. In November 2008, right after the federal funding extension was announced, Mount Pleasant voters rejected their district’s levy request by 22 percentage points.
“Without federal forest funds or local levy dollars, these local districts like Mount Pleasant will have to close in June 2013,” Baldwin said. “That little school will be done.”
Should Mount Pleasant become financially insolvent, a regional committee of the Educational Service District 112 would determine to which larger district Mount Pleasant students would be transferred, Baldwin said. The catch, though, is smaller school districts can only be absorbed by districts with which they share a contiguous boundary, she said.
Mount Pleasant would prefer to be consolidated with the Skamania district rather than the Washougal district, Baldwin said. And the feeling is mutual. Baldwin said the Washougal officials do not want to absorb the smaller district, which is a long drive from the city on roads taht can be treacherous during the winter.
Thus, the desire to transfer territory to Mount Pleasant and create a boundary line with Skamania School District.
Baldwin said the boundary change is a backup plan, in case the Mount Pleasant district cannot find a funding source to subsidize federal dollars.
Baldwin will present the proposal to Mount Pleasant and Skamania school board members tonight. Washougal school board members will see the presentation at their meeting Tuesday.
The process is complex and will require notification to all affected residences and public hearings. If all three school boards give the go-ahead, Baldwin said she will begin that process.
Marissa Harshman: 360-735-4546 or marissa.harshman@columbian.com.
