Heine-Withee has a history of testifying before the Washington State Legislature on bills that affect education and parents’ rights
Jennifer Heine-Withee recently announced her candidacy for Battle Ground School District Board of Directors Position 1.
Heine-Withee is a lifelong resident of Washington state. She and her husband graduated from Prairie High School, and all three of their children went through the Battle Ground School District system and graduated from Battle Ground High School. Throughout their education, she volunteered in their classrooms and worked as a classified substitute. For the past two years, Heine-Withee has served on the Citizens Advisory Committee.
Heine-Withee has a history of testifying before the Washington State Legislature on bills that affect education and parents’ rights. She has met with several lawmakers including representatives Jim Walsh, Vicki Kraft, and Monica Stonier.
In 2020, Heine-Withee had an integral role in connecting school board directors around the state who had the common goal of giving smaller districts a greater voice at the WA State School Directors Association. As a result this group was able to propose and pass an amendment to the bylaws discontinuing an inequitable voting system called the Weighted Vote and replacing it with one vote per district.
“I have been active in advocating for parental rights and excellence in education since 2018,’’ Heine-Withee said. “During this time, I have worked on bills and policies with lawmakers and school board directors. I have affected change at the Washington State School Board Association which resulted in the elimination of the weighted vote. If elected I would like to work with the district to improve educational outcomes, fiscal responsibility, transparency, communication, and parental and community involvement.’’
“In 2018, I began advocating for better parental engagement with the school district and for increased local control,’’ Heine-Withee said. “I’ve engaged with school board directors, school administrators, and legislators statewide, and even met with Superintendent Chris Reykdal twice. In 2021, when the district was considering a new middle school sex education curriculum, I proposed an alternative that would better align with our community values. More recently, I worked with the district to update the library procedures, aiming to improve oversight and consistency in our library collections.’’
For more information, visit JenniferforBGSB.com.
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As a school board director in a nearby school district I whole heartedly support Jennifer as a Battle Ground school board director.
Jennifer and I have been fighting together for parents rights in education for 6 years now. She will serve in the best interests of the students, teachers and parents.
It’s great that there is someone running that supports the parent’s rights, but what does she propose to do about the reducing the cost of education in the BGSD? Is she willing to make a statement that there needs to be reduction in staff at the district level? The district is reducing it’s workforce to deal with a $14M shortfall in funding due to a double levy failure this year, some of those people being custodial and maintenance staff – people who are responsible for keeping the schools clean and safe.
What’s her thoughts on what she would recommend if the district is facing another double levy failure in 2026? Is she willing to take a hard look at the number of people with $100k salaries and ask if (1) can that job/those jobs be done by fewer people and (2) why are we paying someone so much for doing so little?
Battle Ground PS has had a funding problem for a long time. When Battle Ground is compared to surrounding districts I believe that they do a better job than most but I have also seen areas where the BGSD has not made wise decisions with their money. One example is when they received their covid relief funds or ESSER funds from the federal government they chose to spend part of those dollars on hiring staff without a plan for when the funds ran out. Another example is the grant that is currently funding the social/emotional program for middle school and possibly high school if approved by the board. At some point that grant will run out and as far as I know there is no plan for continued funding.
If elected I will do everything in my power to reduce district costs. Earlier this year I spoke to Shelley Whitten about a non-profit group that helps primary students to read called Read NW. They are now in two of our primary schools and the district is looking at expanding into other primaries. I also would like to increase volunteerism in the classroom to take some of the burden off of teachers. I also believe we must have transparency when it comes to the union negotiations and a policy concerning superintendent contracts.
The focus of our children’s education must be on the fundamentals and making sure that every student upon graduation is prepared for the next phase of life whether it is college, trade school, the military or the workforce. I believe we have the funding to achieve this goal and that it is the responsibility of the board and the district to be discerning in how they use what has been given to them by the tax payers.