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CLASSROOM TO SIDELINES | Second part of series on teachers who coach [page 3]
WEEK OF FIRSTS | Kentlake won its first game of the 2013 football season while FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2013 Kentwood lost its first contest [16]
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How public schools are funded by taxpayers
Support for Ravensdale Park from City Council
BY KATHERINE SMITH
BY KATHERINE SMITH
ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
ksmith@maplevalleyreporter.com
Election day, when voters who live in the Tahoma School District will vote to approve or deny the district’s $195 million dollar construction bond measure, is less than a month away. Here at the Reporter office we’ve been hearing questions about how school districts are funded — where the money comes from, where it goes, why hasn’t the influx of new families over the years equaled an increase in funding that would enable building new spaces, etc. So we decided to ask some questions and see what we could find.
The Maple Valley City Council voted unanimously Monday night to support Ravensdale Park to the tune of $2 million. Earlier this year council members agreed to fund an initial $500,000 toward the park to come from existing city resources. Members of the Ravensdale Park Foundation MAPLE approached the Maple Valley VALLEY City Council about helping to fund the park project about a year ago and the city created a parks commission to vet the idea and offer its recommendation. The commission recommended that the city give $2 million to the park project as a near term fix to the city’s lack of parks and ballfields.
SCHOOLS FUNDING EXPLAINED Schools are funded by the state in two primary ways: through property taxes and through the state apportionment fund, which [ more SCHOOLS page 6 ]
Demcilio, center, offers tips to his Jammin’ boys basketball players during a recent Jammin’ On Bryce tournament. Jammin’ teams are part of the Carly Stowell Foundation programs for youth who wish to pursue sports or music. The foundation was started by Chuck and Elena Stowell to honor the memory The Court of their daughter, Carly, who died in 2007 at the age of 14. Photo courtesy of Kent Photo Survey
Rock ‘n’ More summer school all about musicians BY KRIS HILL khill@maplevalleyreporter.com
Summer for Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More Music Academy students and teachers was about networking as well as cultivating opportunities. Musicians from the nonprofit music school, which was founded in Maple Valley by Dace Anderson in 2005, spent the warm months of the year playing at a variety of events and venues which
could lead — and some cases already have — to other chances to play throughout the region. Anderson’s band, Sealth, which started at Rock ‘n’ More several years ago, played at the Seattle True Independent Festival’s kickoff party before summer started which set the tone for the coming months. “That was pretty cool … because in that whole scene we’re networking with really creative
people and getting to know filmmakers,” Anderson said. “Besides just getting to know these really cool creative people it may open up opportunities for us or our students to get music in films or work with filmmakers to make music videos. We did a lot of stuff this summer that is going to be opening up a lot of opportunities for our students.” Beyond the film festival, Rock ‘n’ More partnered with the Rat City Rollergirls on a songwriting contest. The winner, the Dakota Poorman Band, played at halftime of a contest at Key Arena. “His songs got three times as
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[ more ROCK page 7]
[ more PARK page 6 ]
Amanda Brielle, a student at Dace’s Rock ‘n’ More in Maple Valley, sings an original song she wrote at halftime of a Rat City Rollergirls bout. Courtesy photo
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