ARLINGTON — A school bond in Lake Stevens was passing after initial returns in Tuesday’s special election while an Arlington schools levy appeared headed for defeat.
Only two issues were in front of Snohomish County voters — the Lake Stevens School District bond and an Arlington School District levy to build a new middle school.
“While we are thrilled to share that it looks like our school construction bond is passing with more than 60% approval, we are still waiting for the final validation number to know if it is approved,” Lake Stevens School District Mary Templeton wrote in a message to students, staff and families.
In order for validation, slightly more than 11,300 votes need to be cast within Lake Stevens School District, Templeton added in the message. Turnout needs to reach 40% in Lake Stevens School District boundaries of the prior election for the measure to be validated.
Early numbers showed 60.7% of voters approving the $314 million Lake Stevens measure. In Arlington, the $75 million levy was failing 57.4% to 42.6%. The Lake Stevens bond needs over 60% of voters to say “yes” while the Arlington measure needs a simple majority.
Voter turnout was 25.3% in the initial drop, with a little over 15,000 combined votes cast in the election.
The Arlington measure needs a simple majority to pass and Lake Stevens needs 60% voter approval.
Arlington tried ballot measures twice last year, failing both times. Tuesday’s levy is slightly cheaper than the previous attempt on the November ballot.
“Thank you to the Arlington Public Schools voters for participating in the February special election,” district spokesperson Gary Sabol wrote in a statement. “Unfortunately, the capital levy to replace Post Middle School did not receive the 50% approval needed for passage. We spent a lot of time listening and learning from our community to develop the capital levy and will continue to do so as we consider next steps.”
The Lake Stevens bond is the same amount as the one that appeared on November’s ballot. It failed by less than 2%, and district leadership has been hopeful they would pick up a few more votes this election.
The bond would allow the district to build a new school, modernize other schools and build five new gyms. Mt. Pilchuck Elementary would also build a $27 million “secondary innovative learning center” at the school.
The Arlington levy would have replaced Post Middle School, which is nearly 50 years old. The school had high CO2 readings in some classrooms due to a faulty heating system. Post Middle School is also their most expensive school for maintenance, district officials have said.
Jordan Hansen: 425-339-3046; jordan.hansen@heraldnet.com; X: @jordyhansen.
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