WAITSBURG… Sen. Perry Dozier today said he is elated that the Prescott School District is no longer facing dissolution and is on a clear path to get out of a financial hole caused by years of undisclosed mismanagement.
A petition to dissolve the district had been filed Jan. 12 by Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal, at the recommendation of a financial oversight committee he had assigned to assess the district’s viability. In a letter today to Educational Service District 123, which includes Prescott, Reykdal announced he had followed the oversight committee’s advice and rescinded the petition because Prescott has produced the necessary financial plan before the April 1 deadline that had been set in January.
Dozier, state senator for the 16th Legislative District since 2021, is a proud graduate of the Prescott school system, which serves families from the Prescott area and the Vista Hermosa community. During the just-concluded 2026 legislative session he led the successful effort to secure a budget appropriation of approximately $630,000 that will anchor Prescott’s plan for financial recovery.
The law created by the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 6065, which Dozier introduced, also will give Prescott a tool it needs to get back on solid financial footing.
The Waitsburg Republican offered these comments in response to the announcement from Olympia:
“I’m elated that the district will get to continue doing what it does so well, which is to serve the children of Prescott and Vista Hermosa and their families while acting as the hub of the area. They didn’t deserve all the concern and frustration this caused, especially after the dissolution petition was filed.
“There’s a long list of people who had a hand in getting to today’s good news, but the credit belongs first and foremost to the residents of Prescott and Vista Hermosa. Their heroic efforts to rise up and overcome a situation that wasn’t their fault made for a story that was very persuasive in Olympia, especially with my colleagues on the Senate education and budget committees. I was able to convey to them the injustice of what was happening to the district, but the clincher was the 87% ‘yes’ vote for the February special levy. That backed up everything I was saying at the Capitol about how Prescott values education and stands behind its schools.
“While I agree with Superintendent Reykdal that there is still work to do – and to me that includes accountability for the people who caused this crisis by failing to act like responsible public servants – let’s take a moment and celebrate this huge accomplishment.”
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