Moses Lake School District Levy Passes

Grant County voters passed a levy to fund the Moses Lake School District over the next four years.

With 5,911 "yes" votes and 4,147 "no" votes, the levy passes with a voter turnout of around 35 percent.

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The levy will provide $51.3 million in funding from 2026-2029, plus an approximated $23.5 million in state-granted Local Effort Assistance (LEA) money. These funds come from community generated sales tax, lottery, and other monies into a state general fund.

LEA is only granted if the district passes a levy, and if a levy does not pass, then the state can do what it wants with it.

The $51.3 million dollar breakdown over four years translates to $11.2 million in 2026, $12.5 million in 2027, $13.3 million in 2028, and $14.2 million in 2029.

Public Relations Director for Moses Lake School District Ryan Shannon says this is a big help.
"We're very thankful to the community for voting and coming out and making their voices heard," Shannon said. "We want the community to know... we will continue to listen to them and engage with them to benefit our students because at the end of the day it all comes down to them."

Shannon says the district is hopeful to rebuild the trust of the community.

"On behalf of the more than 8,200 Moses Lake School District, we are excited to move forward," Shannon said. "We continue to want to engage our continue our community and will continue to do so."

The levy passing comes after an accounting error ultimately led to a more than $20 million deficit, which led to sizable layoffs.

Shannon notes the school district will not receive funds from the levy until May 2026. However, he anticipates full funding of athletics by the 2026-27 school year.

Until then, the district will continue to work within the constraints of its current budget and hopes to gather more community support from the Community Action and Activities group (CAA), which raised $660,000 to support athletics and extracurriculars in October 2024.

"We'll have CAA support next year as well to help keep those levels where they are," Shannon said. "You'll start to see some dollars pushed into technology... we can start to plan for some things knowing that those tax dollars will be coming in."

Shannon says the vote will be certified Feb. 21.

"We are optimistic given the current vote tally," Shannon said. "We anticipate the vote tally will be certified."

The district attempted two separate levys in 2024 without success. All in all, the district will see more than $74.8 million through 2029 in tax funds.