Goldendale businesswoman Gina McCabe on Thursday officially announced her intention to seek the Washington 14th District State House seat being vacated by Charles Ross. McCabe and her family own several businesses in the Goldendale area, and she coaches dance and cheerleading at Goldendale High School. While making the announcement in Yakima, McCabe said she wants to put family values into policy in Olympia, believing improvements in education and public safety start with parents instilling values in their children. Two other Republicans have said they want the seat that Ross is leaving: Yakima businessman Ben Shoval and state National Guard Sergeant Adam Yoest of Yakima. No Democrats have publically announced an intention to run.
Lyle Middle School is one of 13 in Washington that will receive federal School Improvement Grants. Funds received can be used in a variety of areas, including targeted professional development, supplies and materials, and before- and after-school programs. Schools receiving the grants were identified as priority schools, defined as being among lowest five percent of Title I schools based on test results. Title I schools have at least 40 percent of students from low-income families. This is the third round of School Improvement Grants in Washington. A state analysis on the first group of schools showed three out of every four schools increased test scores in reading, while 95 percent increased math scores.
Declining weighted enrollment, a history of spending down reserves, and increased operational cuts have led to a 2014-15 budget with reductions for the Hood River County School District. The reductions include one full time equivalent teacher reduction at the elementary level, one-and-three-quarters in the middle schools that would diminish the world language program at that level, and two at Hood River Valley High School that will mostly impact the alternative education program and the diversity of electives. Other staffing cuts will occur in community education, special education support personnel, and administrative level, plus there will be reductions in discretionary spending. District Superintendent Dan Goldman says without an increase in state funding support during the next legislative session, there will be more cuts next year, and reserves are still being used to balance the budget this time. He added the rationale for using reserves in 14-15 was based on the knowledge they will have to make cuts next year without a funding jump. There was a motion to pass the budget, but committee members decided to meet again this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Hood River Valley High School to give the public an opportunity to provide more comment.
We have detected that you are using an adblock in your browser’s plugin to disable advertising from loading on our website.
Your Experience is very important to us, and your Ad Blocker enabled will cause our site not to perform as expected. Turn off the Ad Blocker or add our site to your exceptions. After you turn off or add exception please refresh the site or click ok.
Please note: Clicking OK below will NOT disable your ad blocker. You will need to make that change within the ad blocker's settings.
A 24-year-old Parkdale area man has been reported as missing.