KSD Waves ‘White Flag’ on Operations Levy? Latest Voting Results Here
An email sent out Friday morning by the Kennewick School District appears to indicate they are preparing for potential cuts, as the levy is still failing.
Benton County Auditor's site shows ______ votes left to count
The latest update from late Thursday afternoon shows a blank in the column marked "estimated votes left to count," indicating all of the 19,263 ballots have been processed. That's just over 28 percent of the registered voters in the county.
Kennewick levy trailing by 391 votes
There have been 8.,141 no votes, and 7,750 yes in Kennewick, 51.23 percent no, 48.77 percent yes. Part of the email sent out to media and to those who subscribe to receive KSD communications read as of 8:53 AM Friday:
"Based on these results, it is unlikely the district will gain the necessary votes to reach the 50% voter approval needed to pass the levy. The next time the district could run the EP&O levy again is February 2023."
The count of votes for all of the special election races will be May 5th with election certification on May 6th.
Finley Levy also failing
Finley, who saw their February operations levy fail by five votes, is trailing as well, 425 no to 381 yes, a margin of 44 votes. The percentage is 52.72 percent no, 47.27 percent yes.
Prosser levy passing by a whisker
After initially trailing, the Prosser School District operations levy is now barely passing, by 34 votes. 1,265 yes, 1,231 no. These are Benton County results only.
What will be next for Kennewick and Finley if levies fail?
KSD said this in their email release:
"In the coming weeks, the district will be working closely with the school board to identify budget reductions for the 2022-23 school year. The district will work hard to develop a plan that is both fiscally responsible and mindful of the impacts on students and staff. When specific information is available, we will share details with our staff and community."
Again, the election will be officially certified on May 6th.
KEEP READING: Scroll to see what the big headlines were the year you were born