County Districts Back Task Force
By Howard Buck, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
Jun. 7–Eight of Clark County’s nine public school systems are urging creation of a task force their leaders hope can problem-solve and incubate new ideas to boost local education and livability.
Responding to growth pressures and the county’s upcoming, crucial decision on expanding urban-growth boundaries, the districts want to band together, inviting developers and county officials to join them.
Led by Evergreen Public Schools, with only the tiny Green Mountain district opting out, top educators will make their case to county commissioners at a work session June 21. They’ll find a ready listener in Commissioner Betty Sue Morris, who has called for better accommodation of schools and school funding when key development policies are set, both locally and in the Washington Legislature.
“I’m glad we’re having it,” said Morris, who had not yet seen the districts’ resolution or an accompanying policy paper. “I think there’s a whole range of issues to deal with.”
Evergreen Superintendent John Deeder, who has hosted four meetings of his peers, said on Tuesday it’s time for districts to assert themselves on land-use and growth issues, plus many more.
Whether addressing large, suburban subdivisions or urban infill development, launching community partnerships or floating curriculum reforms, the group is hoping to spark a broader community conversation, he said.
“We need to take a stand on being involved,” said Deeder, head of the 25,300-student district, fifth-largest in Washington state. “Our goal is to work together to focus on the quality of education in Clark County.”
Deeder and Joan Skelton, the Evergreen school board president, noted current attributes making the county a vibrant job and housing market: solid kindergarten-through-grade 12 schools, higher education slots at Clark College and Washington State University Vancouver, and several thriving employers.
Rapid growth’s negative impact on schools and funding can jeopardize all that, both said. Overcrowded classrooms and portable units, school staffing cuts and property owners’ “tax fatigue” that has in part doomed school operating levy and construction bond ballot tries can all damage the entire region, they said.
Among potential answers the educators are proposing: new Growth Management Act comprehensive planning rules that include pre-application discussion of impact on school capacity; developer incentives to provide, and early identification of, future school sites, growing much more scarce and costly; and adoption of new development impact fees and other alternative funding streams.
The proposed task force would include one of the county commissioners, representative builders and developers, school superintendents and/or school board members and appropriate county or school system staff members.
Steve Madsen, governmental affairs director for the Building Industry Association of Clark County, said he expected some form of participation, while details are far from settled.
Deeder took pains to insist the districts aren’t trying to tighten pressure on home builders, instead drawing them into the process, he said.
“We don’t ever want to get in the way of what they need to do,” Deeder said. September’s deadline for new urban-growth boundaries has pressed the topic to the front burner, but future discussion would run the gamut, he added. “We’re going to continue to meet, we’re going to pick off issues.”
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbian, Vancouver, Wash.
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