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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, May 12, 2008 Mukilteo counts on school bond passage If voters reject the $139.2 million measure again, the district will have to find ways to pack more students into the available space By Eric Stevick Herald Writer MUKILTEO -- A $139.2 million bond measure that will be decided May 20 boils down to more than space, repairs, technology and land in the Mukilteo School District. It also could be about time. If the bond measure fails, a panel of residents and school officials next fall will begin exploring changing boundaries and possibly staggering school start times or the school year calendar to make more room for students. "The purpose of the committee is to solve the long-term space issues and, of course, the bond itself contains a solution to the long-term space issues," said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman. The proposal is the same $139.2 million bond measure that failed to get the 60 percent supermajority required by state law when it was on the Feb. 19 ballot. It finished with 55.7 percent approval. The bond measure would: Spend $41 million to renovate Mukilteo and Discovery elementary schools; Build a new $28 million elementary school near Lake Stickney; Spend $15.4 million to fix athletic facilities and fields at middle schools and at Kamiak and Mariner high schools, including Goddard Stadium; Set aside $12.5 million to buy land for buildings in the future; Provide $11.5 million to improve classrooms across the district; and Allocate $11 million to build classrooms to replace portables at ACES, the district's alternate high school in south Everett. It would also provide funds to upgrade technology in the schools. Enrollment in the district rose by nearly 1,000 students over the past 10 years and is expected to increase by more than that over the next decade. There are now 14,147 students, but that could increase to nearly 16,000 by 2017, according to a district consultant's enrollment projections. Growth has been particularly heavy in the Lake Stickney area. For instance, Odyssey Elementary School opened with 563 students four years ago. Enrollment this spring is around 780. The school has four portable classrooms used by nearly 100 students. Next fall, all five of Odyssey's kindergarten classrooms will be bused to Serene Lake Elementary School to free up space. Fairmount Elementary School will add two more portables next fall, bringing the number of students in portables to about 150 next fall. The district has 74 portables used by 1,700 students, including 1,056 at the elementary school level. The 21-year bond measure would collect 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year. That's $124 a year on a $400,000 home. Bond measures provide authority for school districts to borrow money to pay for building new schools, upgrading existing schools and buying land. While voters statewide in November decided to scrap the supermajority requirement on school levies in favor of a simple majority, school bonds still must receive approval from 60 percent of the voters. In general, levies are for school maintenance and operation and bonds are for buildings and land purchases. Leita Garside, a mother with two boys attending Mukilteo schools, is part of the volunteer levy committee. She hopes the measure does better this time. "For what we are going to pay for, we get such a good payoff and it's just going to get more expensive" in the future, she said. There is no organized opposition group to the proposal. Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.

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