Monroe district sends $49M capital levy measure to ballot
Published 1:51 pm Wednesday, June 17, 2026
EVERETT — The Monroe School District’s board of directors voted Tuesday to place a four-year, $49 million capital levy on the November ballot after a bond measure failed to pass earlier this year.
The levy, if approved, would pay for safety and security upgrades to buildings, repair work, facility improvements and the relocation of an alternative school at the district to a new site.
The relocation of that alternative school, the Sky Valley Education Center, would be the largest project funded by the capital levy, with a price tag of about $30 million, according to a district website.
The original buildings on the Sky Valley campus, constructed in the 1960s, contain hazardous building materials like asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls and lead, according to the district. In 2022 and 2023, multiple students and their families won lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies due to environmental contamination at the school.
The district performed significant remediation work to prevent exposure to the chemicals, including the polychlorinated biphenyls, known as PCBs. In 2025, the district said that testing showed there were no PCBs above the acceptable level for school occupancy.
The repairs needed for the Sky Valley Education Center are so extensive that renovating it is impractical, the district wrote on its website. It plans to move the school to the Wagner Center, a historic building on Monroe’s Main Street that has remained mostly vacant in recent years, according to district officials. To reduce the cost of the move, the district is considering new building methods including modular construction, where buildings are constructed off-site in controlled settings to reduce costs.
“The proposed Wagner Center project would preserve historic elements of the original facility while creating a smaller, right-sized facility for SVEC designed to better align with current and anticipated program needs while reducing long-term operating and maintenance costs,” the district wrote in a release Tuesday.
Other improvements that the levy would pay for include new fire alarm systems, secure entrances, roof repairs, HVAC system replacements, repairs to sporting facilities and a new gym at Frank Wagner Elementary School.
The estimated property tax cost to homeowners would be an average of 88 cents per $1,000 of assessed value over the collection period, according to the district.
The ask for capital levy comes after district officials went to voters for a $152 million construction bond in February. That would have funded the projects included in the capital levy, as well as additional safety improvements and major maintenance projects.
Numerous repair and upgrade projects included in the bond were not included as part of the levy measure. The two-story wing at Frank Wagner Elementary would have been modernized, the gym at Salem Woods Elementary would have been expanded, plumping and HVAC systems at Monroe High School would have been repaired, and all elementary schools would have seen improvements to early learning facilities. The Wagner Center would also have been expanded and most of the Sky Valley Education Center’s current campus would have been demolished, among numerous other projects.
Voters rejected that bond measure with 48.9% approval. Levies in Washington require a simple 50% majority to pass; bonds require 60%.
“Following the February election, we heard clearly from our community that they wanted a shorter tax commitment and more focused approach to addressing the most urgent facility needs,” Superintendent Shawn Woodward wrote in a press release Tuesday. “This proposal reflects that feedback while continuing to address important safety, maintenance, and facility challenges across the district.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
