LAKE STEVENS — The School Board has decided to ask voters for a $116 million bond to build a new elementary school and early learning center, among a number of other projects.
The board voted unanimously Wednesday to put the measure on the ballot for Feb. 9.
The estimated cost to taxpayers of the 20-year bond would be $1.21 per $1,000 assessed property value. That’s about $363 per year on a $300,000 home.
The biggest piece of the proposal is building a new elementary school, early learning center and several new buildings at Lake Stevens High School. The high school would get additional special education, music and athletic space along with updates to the swimming pool, restrooms, parking lot and bus area.
The elementary school and early learning center would share a new campus on a 38-acre property owned by the district between Soper Hill Road and Lake Drive, east of Highway 9. If voters approve the bond, construction would start in 2016 and the new elementary and early learning center could open in fall 2017. A committee would be formed before then to redo boundaries for the service areas of Lake Stevens elementary schools.
Construction at the high school would take place in phases to be less disruptive during school days, according to the district. That part of the project likely would take longer than the elementary campus.
The $116 million sum also includes money to upgrade safety equipment and other systems around the district. Video surveillance, intercoms and door controls would be updated, heating and ventilation systems replaced, and roofs and tracks rebuilt.
School officials expect to offset some of the costs with up to $30 million in state money.
Lake Stevens has six elementary schools, each built to house about 550 students. The average student population per school is 660 students. Hillcrest and Sunnycrest, the two most crowded schools in the district, have more than 750 students each, according to the district. All elementaries have reached their limit for the number of portable classrooms that can be added. In May, schools stopped accepting requests for out-of-district elementary students to transfer into Lake Stevens.
A work group of parents, teachers, students and property owners started looking at space needs last year and came up with a list of possible projects. Last month, the district asked the public to share opinions in an online survey. Those results were presented to the school board to help with its decision.
The survey gathered 1,981 comments from 825 participants, who then were able to mark other suggestions they agreed with. Participants said they did not want a “short term solution,” according to the results, but also noted that a more expensive, long term bond measure — like the one proposed by the board — needs to be carefully divvied up.
“I just want to make sure … the things that are promised get done,” one commenter wrote. “That the district makes sure that all precautions are taken so that money doesn’t run out and a building or department doesn’t get short changed.”
Some people expressed concerns about the price or worried that more money would be needed down the road for a new middle school when the crowding moves beyond elementaries.
The proposed new elementary campus could eventually house a new middle school, too, according to the district. The original goal with building Cavelero Mid High was to turn it into a second high school once a new middle school is finished. However, the district does not anticipate doing that for at least another decade.
Voters last passed a bond for the Lake Stevens School District in 2005, a $65.5 million commitment to build Cavelero, update Lake Stevens High School, add a stadium and modernize Hillcrest, Mount Pilchuck and Sunnycrest elementaries. That still is being paid off.
The district also has two levies on the books from 2014. The first is a $52.5 million levy for maintenance and operations and the second is a $6 million levy for technology.
The outstanding bond and levies on top of the new proposed bond would cost taxpayers about $2.44 total per $1,000 assessed value, about $732 per year on a $300,000 home.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
Tour
District officials plan to lead a tour of the high school, early learning center and Hillcrest Elementary starting at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 17. To RSVP for the tour or learn more, call 425-335-1668.
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