MALTBY — Snohomish County could get a new elementary school if voters in the Northshore School District approve a February bond measure.
The proposal will be part of a three-proposition ballot package that includes operations and technology levies. The school board voted in late October to place the measures on the ballot.
The kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school would be built for 500 students on a district-owned site near Maltby. It’s on land southeast of the new North Creek High School and west of Highway 9.
The district owns 33 acres of property that could someday house the new elementary as well as a middle school. The middle school is not part of the bond proposal that will appear on the Feb. 13 ballot.
The bond measure seeks $275 million and includes more classrooms to ease overcrowding. It also would make improvements to existing buildings as well as safety and security upgrades at every school. It would need a 60 percent “yes” vote to pass. Levies require a simple majority.
The proposal would include adding 30 classrooms to Skyview Middle and Canyon Creek Elementary schools, which also are in south Snohomish County. Those campuses are next to one another and the extra classrooms would be part of a two-story building. Students from both schools would use the new classrooms.
The Northshore district straddles the King and Snohomish County line. It has had “explosive growth in the north end of the district,” Northshore spokeswoman Lisa Youngblood Hall said. At the elementary level, the district recently has been growing by 300 students each year, which is about half an elementary school’s enrollment.
Northshore has added 2,000 more students over the past six years with another 1,700 projected over the next six years.
A new school would mean some boundary adjustments.
Also on the ballot is a four-year proposition to renew the operations levy. It would raise $234 million during that time. Levies help pay for special education and transportation costs not covered by the state as well as extracurricular activities that include music, drama, sports and clubs.
A technology levy rounds out the Northshore ballot requests. It would raise $62 million with a goal of having devices available for each student.
The total rate for Northshore taxpayers for the bond as well as operation and technology levies would drop from $4.01 to $3.89 based on school district estimates.
On a $500,000 home, that would mean an estimated dip from $2,005 to $1,945.
Actual tax rates could vary based on updated assessed property values and whether the Legislature makes changes to a formula that sets the amount school districts can seek in local taxes from their voters.
The district has been able to pass bonds on a four-year cycle with old bond measures expiring and being replaced by new ones.
“As new ones are approved others are getting to the point where they are paid off,” Youngblood Hall said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
