The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON— With the budget deficit in mind the Dayton School District Board of Directors and Administration have agreed not to fill the vacant position for elementary school principal.

At their monthly work session last week, Superintendent Doug Johnson discussed with them his plan to reassign some of the duties and responsibilities of that position.

“Fortunately, there are many experienced and talented employees willing to accept new responsibilities,” Johnson said.

At that meeting the board approved a plan for compensating those who are accepting additional responsibility in the following areas:

MS/HS Title and Lap coordinator,

Assessment and Safety

Elementary teacher evaluations

District office support

Elementary ASB

The Board has asked employees helping in those areas to furnish them with brief descriptors of the kinds of tasks involved, and the time needed to complete them, as they prepare for a new school administrator in the 2020-21.

Supt. Johnson also spoke to them about the upcoming special levy election in Feb. 2020.

He said, although there is a new state funding model for K-12 education, it is necessary to run an enrichment levy in order to provide programs, supplies and personnel.

The state has developed a formula for determining the size of the local tax collection for enrichment. In Dayton, that formula is equal to $2500 for each full time student attending school. The collection amount will change each year based on the prior year’s enrollment average. With a change in the collection total also comes a change in the rate, he said.

Supt. Johnson said he is leaning toward running a four-year levy with a collection to be determined on student enrollment of 400.

He said that total would be reduced each year by the Columbia County Auditor, if the actual enrollment average is less than 400.

The rate for each of the four years would vary and Johnson said he thinks the amount would range between $1.30 and $1.40, depending on enrollment and the county’s assessed valuation.

A levy for Technology will also appear on the Feb. ballot, and Supt. Johnson described a plan for increasing the amount currently collected. It is currently collected at a rate of about $.0.11/1,000, he said.

“The heavy reliance on technology for instruction and operations has and will continue to require updating work stations on a regular basis, paying annual fees for software licensing, maintenance and repairs and infrastructure upgrades,” Johnson said.

Supt. Johnson also spoke to some necessary upgrades and said he is working on a grant that may provide the funds necessary for a design plan to improve the electrical system and ventilation system in the elementary building.

He said part of the project may also include HVAC controls for the high school building and improvements to the fire alarm and fire suppression system.

There could be a levy collection to help with those projects, as well, he said.

Supt. Johnson shared information about the first standard of the Superintendent Leadership Framework with the board. He will provide the board with feedback on each of eight standards, culminating on a final evaluation from them.