Since its last bond requests to voters failed two years ago, student needs in the Everett School District have not eased. The district’s enrollment, currently at 19,500 students, continues to grow, buildings and facilities continue to age.
The community, from Everett to Mill Creek, has been good stewards of the district, supportive of its levy and bond requests in the past. Even though bond requests for $259 million twice failed in 2014, each time more than 58 percent voted in favor of increasing their taxes to support construction and renovation of schools. Bonds, unlike levies, require a 60 percent supermajority to pass, a high bar that takes considerable effort to satisfy.
Since the almost-but-not-quite votes in 2014, school district officials and supporters have gone to the community and have taken stock of the district’s continuing needs but also of the community’s concerns and have returned with two ballot issues that have reduced the overall request but still fulfill the work that should be done.
Proposition 1 is a four-year $89.6 million capital levy that will fund $66.9 million in technology equipment, upgrades and maintenance, including classroom computers and mobile devices, Wi-Fi, network and data security improvements as well as technology support. The balance of the levy will provide safety and security improvements throughout the district; maintenance such as replacement of roofing, flooring, wheelchair ramps and fire alarms; and ten portable classrooms for future growth. The levy replaces an existing technology, passed in 2010 that expires this year.
Proposition 2 is a 20-year $149.7 million bond that would provide $50.1 million to modernize and partially replace North Middle School, $43.9 million to build a new elementary school in the district’s south end; and $27.8 million for modernization and partial replacement of Woodside Elementary. The balance would fund heating and air-conditioning upgrades at eight schools, purchase property for a future elementary school, replace the telephone and voicemail system district-wide, replace the roof at Gateway elementary and athletic field at Everett High and purchase 14 portables for future growth at Jackson and Cascade high schools.
Absent from the present bond request, and the chief difference from the 2014 bond, is funding for a new high school.
In conversations with The Herald Editorial Board and a Herald reporter, district officials and school board members said projects were carefully weighed, some of the discussion centering on what to include in a levy, which requires only a simple majority for approval, and the longer-term bond.
Shorter-term and immediate needs, such as technology, maintenance and portables were placed on the levy, with longer-term, bigger-ticket projects on the bond, allowing more time to fund that work without creating too heavy a burden for taxpayers.
Projects funded by the bond and levy will responsibly address the districts needs for safety, maintenance, technology and growth.
As we pointed out in our support of the Marysville School District’s bond, older schools in both districts were built on a model that provides too many entry points into classrooms, presenting a valid safety and security concern. Among the projects throughout the district will be the addition of vestibules that will allow schools to better control access and monitoring of visitors, as will the addition and upgrade of security cameras.
Maintenance of existing facilities also is a key need. Maintenance that is deferred for too long risks failure and repairs that would be especially costly to the district and its students. A $2 million roof failure, the district says, might have to be paid using operational funds, which would equal what the district pays about 23 teachers for a year.
While it has shelved plans for a new high school, the district must prepare for future growth and long-needed moves to reduce the ratio of students to teachers. About 2,000 additional students are expected in the next seven years. Portables are not an ideal solution, but will allow the district to provide students with the classroom space they need.
The technology improvements and infrastructure, as well, are crucial as curriculum advances for the 21st-century student. Public schools have been asked to expand access to science, technology, engineering and math fields so that children are well-prepared for life after high school: from college or job training to work and life in the community.
The district has used the community’s past support to serve students well. While it is only one measure of success, Everett’s high schools have improved the district graduation rates to among the highest in the state; 90.2 percent for those finishing in four years and 94.5 percent for those graduating in five years.
The district and its supporters in the community have presented a bond and levy package that respects what it learned after 2014 bond failures but also meets the needs of students and provides for responsible management of the community’s past investments.
Everett School District voters should support without reservation both the levy and bond proposals.
April 26 special election
Voters in the Everett and Marysville school districts have been sent their ballots for the April 26 election. Ballots must be returned or postmarked by April 26. For more information from the Snohomish County Auditor’s Office and a list of ballot drop boxes, go to tinyurl.com/SnoCoAprilVote or call 425-388-3444.
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