Overcrowded and aged schools could receive some much-needed attention if the public approves a $398 million bond on the April ballot.
The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) board of directors unanimously approved during its Monday meeting to put the bond to a public vote April 26.
If approved, the bond measure would address the district’s immediate needs, providing funding to rebuild and enlarge aging schools and to create new classrooms for the steady influx of student enrollment.
“The plan that we’ve developed does involve subsequent bond measures to fund the longer term needs,” district Superintendent Traci Pierce said Monday. “Bond measures won’t increase tax rates. Those tax rates will be maintained at the 2015 tax rate and will be kept steady over the next 15 years.”
The district anticipates $21 million from state assistance and another $10 million from school impact fees, bring in the total projects cost to about $430 million.
Among other things, the 2016 bond would fund two new elementary schools and a new middle school to be placed in Redmond; it would upgrade the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center (ORSCC) to include a preschool; and it would replace portables at Explorer Elementary School in Redmond.
Former Redmond mayor Rosemarie Ives spoke at the meeting and noted that she is sympathetic to the challenges facing the district and that growth in Redmond is out of control.
On the ORSCC, Ives said: “So with the proposed district bond issue priced at $398 million, I believe it is strategic to remove any recommendation that presents a vulnerability to the whole of the bond passing. The ORSCC recommendation doesn’t make financial sense, doesn’t make operational sense and breaks a 40-year lease of a building as a community center benefitting thousands of people.”
In Sammamish, the bond would allow contractors to rebuild and enlarge Margaret Mead Elementary School.
Similarly, in Kirkland, the bond would allow funding to replace and enlarge Peter Kirk Elementary School and Juanita High School.
According to a LWSD press release, the district has grown from the sixth-largest district to the fourth-largest district in the state since last year and has grown by more than 3,200 students in the last five years. Growth is projected to continue, reaching more than 30,000 students by 2020-21 and more than 32,000 students by 2029-30.
“Our district is at a critical point with regard to classroom space,” said board President Nancy Bernard in the release. “Moving to all-day kindergarten and reducing class sizes thanks to new state funding increases our need for more classroom space. At the same time our enrollment continues to grow.”
Added Eric Campbell, CEO of Main Street Property Group and a member of the Lake Washington Citizens Levy Committee, in another press release: “The timing of this bond proposition is a win-win for taxpayers. By paying off our other district bonds and levies, we can fund the bond proposal to improve local schools without raising our tax rate. In addition, we are eligible for state matching funds to make sure our local investment goes even further.”
Complete information on the bond measure, including all projects, is available on the district website at www.lwsd.org.
To watch the Monday board meeting, and for more information, visit www.lwsd.org/about/School-Board/Pages/default.aspx.
Redmond Reporter editor Andy Nystrom contributed to this report.
