The Pandemic May Have Kept Us Home for a Time, But We Never Quit Working for Our Students
Last spring, Lyle School District, like schools around the state, was required to tell students and staff to stay home. The district changed its model of education quickly, providing remote instruction with hard copy learning packets and weekly remote meetings between teachers and students. Meals and learning packets were delivered throughout the district via daily bus deliveries.
Over the summer, the district’s leadership team prepared for the possibility of continued stay-at-home directives, with a focus on being able to provide remote instruction more effectively this fall. Technology was purchased and training in remote/hybrid instruction provided to staff. At the same time, knowing that students learn better when face-to-face with their teachers, administration planned to re-open our doors as soon as circumstances allowed.
This planning paid off. While most school districts remained in fully remote-learning mode, Lyle Schools brought students back in early September for small-group in-person instruction. The district continues to provide hybrid instruction, with students alternating between on-site and at-home instruction.
Currently, with COVID cases in the county, state and nation rising, Lyle has temporarily scaled back to smaller groups on campus. Teachers continue to teach all students daily through a combination of in-class and on-screen interaction.
None of this has been inexpensive. In 2020, the district has paid $24,000 to date in direct COVID-19 related costs. Federal CARES Act funding has helped with some of these expenses, including personal protection equipment and sanitation supplies.
Enrollment is a major driver of our funding, whether federal, state or local. Like districts around the nation, Lyle’s enrollment has decreased during this time, with some parents who are able to choosing to home school their students during the pandemic.
For all of these reasons, now, more than ever, your local school district needs local levy funding.
How Does Enrollment Affect Schools' Funding?
Our enrollment affects both the amount of state and levy funding we receive. That's always been the case with state funding, but it's new with levy collections. The state legislature developed a new formula for how schools determine how much they can collect for a levy. School district levies can be based on the lesser of two formulas:- $2.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value, or
- the equivalent of $2,500 per student
For smaller districts like Lyle, levy collections are based on $2,500 per student. This new formulas resulted in a significant reduction in levy collections the past two years for all schools.
However, in 2022, it will be worse. Enrollment is down across the country, and here in Lyle because of the pandemic. For schools in Washington the loss of enrollment means even less money from our levy, but not until the following year.
This graph shows the change in enrollment in Lyle Schools over the past four years. After five years of steady growth, in the current school year, our enrollment is down significantly.
