When to Stay Home

Washington State Department of Health (DOH) has updated its guidance on when students need to stay home and when they can return to school. The new guidance distinguishes between likely COVID symptoms and symptoms that are more likely to be due to garden-variety illness.

• Class A symptoms are highly likely to indicate a positive COVID case.

• Class B symptoms are likely to be attributable to a common cold, allergies or some other non-COVID issue. 

This change will help us limit the spread of COVID in schools without unnecessarily barring students from attending school. 

The new guidelines can be found here.

Highline Education Levy Question & Answer

The Legislature passed a state property tax for education funding in 2017. Why do we need a local levy?

A portion of the property taxes that used to go directly to local schools now go to the state. The state then redistributes those dollars back to school districts. Local districts can still ask taxpayers for a levy, but for a much smaller amount.

We continue to ask voters to renew our smaller educational levies. We ask for significantly less money than prior to state funding changes passed in 2017, but levy funding is still critical to pay for important needs not yet fully funded by the state.

Read more levy questions and answers.