Battle Ground Public Schools Re-launch Of Middle School Sports Awaits Levy Results (Photo) -10/29/21

Due to budget cuts following a double levy failure in the 1980s, Battle Ground Public Schools was forced to eliminate middle school sports. In 2019, the district’s Board of Directors committed to investing in the relaunch of sports at the middle school level over a several year period, starting in 2020. The pandemic temporarily delayed that launch, but boys and girls basketball seasons are scheduled to begin in early 2022. That would be followed by other sports in the spring including cross country and soccer. In 2022-23, volleyball and track would be introduced, followed by wrestling and football sometime in the future.

“The whole intent, here at the central office and by the board, was to provide opportunities for kids,” said Tom Adams, the district’s director of student services and district-level athletic director. “Our middle school kids don’t have those opportunities to participate in middle school sports like districts around us, and they haven’t for years.”

Sports at the middle school level would also benefit the district’s two comprehensive high schools, said Manny Melo, now the athletic director at Prairie High School who previously coached boys varsity basketball at Battle Ground High School and worked as a middle school physical education teacher.

“Middle School Sports plays such a huge role in building the foundation of these kids’ lives for the next five or six years,” said Melo. “Kids get to build the skills, they get to know the high school system and meet their coaches.”

David Cresap, the co-director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the district, played middle school sports for Lewisville School in the late 70s. “On game days we would wear our game jerseys and that was fun, there was a lot of conversation about it,” he said. “I think it helped with the school spirit, and it was a positive thing. It was just a good feeling that complimented the academic side of things.”

Like many districts, local levy funding plays a critical role in providing sports and other extracurricular activities in Battle Ground. “The levy covers the cost of the coach’s salaries,” said Adams. “It also covers the cost of referees, as well as game workers and transportation.”

Local levy funding pays for 178 coaches and athletic advisors at the district’s two comprehensive high schools, and would be needed for an additional 109 middle school coaches once all sports are fully rolled out.

Battle Ground Public Schools’ current levy expires at the end of this year. If voters don’t approve a replacement four-year Educational Programs and Operations Levy in the Nov. 2 general election, the district would face cuts of at least $28 million in 2022, leading to a reduction in staffing, programs, transportation, and other student services currently supported by levy funding.

The replacement levy on the ballot would raise $26.8 million in 2022, with an estimated tax rate of $1.99 per $1,000 of assessed value for property owners in the district. That rate is $0.33 lower than the current levy rate of $2.32 per $1,000. Battle Ground Public Schools already has the lowest K-12 tax rate of any district in Clark County, and the replacement levy would reduce the cost to taxpayers even further; the owner of a home worth $450,000 in assessed value would see their local school taxes reduced by approximately $123 in 2022, and pay less in all four years as compared to 2021.

“If we were able to provide middle school students with something that hasn’t been here in a very, very long time, it would just be a huge step in the right direction,” said Melo, “for sports, for athletics, and just for the population in this area.”

More information about the replacement levy is available at battlegroundps.org/levy.

VIDEO ((https://youtu.be/Sfoma3D8On8))