Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
COLFAX — Two of three county school votes are passing after an updated vote count Feb. 10.
In Lamont, the vote was 28-24 to deny the school’s two-year levy.
For Colton, a vote of 284-105 will pass the one-year levy.
In Rosalia, the vote count stood at 166-83 to approve splitting their five school board districts into three.
Mailed ballots are still coming in and three ballots are being challenged, according to the Whitman County elections office.
The Lamont School District sought a two-year replacement educational programs and operations levy, to be collected at a rate of $2.50 per $1,000 in assessed property value. Total funding brought in would have been $130,000 in 2022 and $132,000 in 2023.
The levy needed a simple majority to pass but is failing by four votes.
“In Lamont, it’s been traditionally pretty close, but the community support has been there,” said Todd Spear, third-year superintendent for the Lamont School District.
Spear said that if the levy fails, the school board will consider trying again at the April 27 special election.
The district consists of the Lamont School. It houses 43 fifth- through eighth-grade students. Lamont students generally go to school in Sprague for kindergarten through fourth-grade, and later to high school in Ritzville.
The Colton School District’s annual a one-year replacement educational programs and operations levy will be collected at a rate of $2.36 per $1,000 in assessed value, generating $398,947 in 2022.
In Rosalia, the school district seeks to authorize a re-drawing of its board districts from five to three, with two positions becoming at-large.
Colton passed one-year replacement levies at above 70 percent both in 2020 and 2019. The new levy dollars will go to extracurricular activities, career and technical education, food service, FFA, preschool and more.
The Rosalia measure would take its overall population of 1,089 (2010 Census) and divide it equally across three districts of two large rural areas and a small pocket for the town.
The Rosalia superintendent and longtime school board president both spoke in favor of the proposal.
The next ballot count is Feb. 18, with certification set for Feb. 19.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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