The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has received about $13.82 million in state funding for capital construction.
The state funding is part of $213 million in capital construction money approved and released to school districts throughout the state. The Legislature made these funds available for school construction, as approved by the governor.
LWSD successfully applied for state funding to help with the cost of four school construction projects that are part of the district’s modernization program. Ten schools are slated for modernization in the second of four phases that will ensure that district schools are updated every 30 to 40 years. A $436 million bond measure passed by voters in 2006 funds most of the cost of updating these 10 buildings.
The four school projects that received the state funds are:
- Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School in Kirkland – $3,105,337
- Benjamin Rush Elementary School in Redmond – $2,661,490
- Rose Hill/Stella Schola Middle schools in Redmond – $5,301,313
- International Community School/Community School in Kirkland – $2,761,777
“These additional state dollars help us stretch the modernization funds provided by local taxpayers even further,” said LWSD Superintendent Dr. Traci Pierce.
These four projects are the last to be completed in this phase of modernization. All four have begun construction and are scheduled to open in the fall of 2013. Three other schools – John Muir Elementary, Helen Keller Elementary and Carl Sandburg Elementary/Discovery Community school, all in Kirkland – are now being completed in preparation for opening in September 2012.
