EVERETT — Mukilteo School Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to send bond and levy measures to the February special election ballot.
The bond measure, totaling $400 million, would pay for numerous construction projects across the school district, which covers Mukilteo as well as parts of Everett, Lynnwood, Edmonds and unincorporated Snohomish County.
The bond’s most expensive project is the completion of the Explorer Middle School replacement, a project that began with an initial phase thanks to a 2020 bond measure. The middle school’s replacement is expected to cost $134.7 million.
Other projects in the bond package would include an $88 million replacement of Mukilteo Middle School and work toward replacement of Serene Lake and Olivia Park Elementary Schools. The bond would also fund a $27 million expansion of the Kamiak High School gym, synthetic turf fields at some schools and building maintenance districtwide. Other upgrades planned include safety improvements, technology upgrades and new fire safety systems.
The levy measure on the ballot would extend the district’s ongoing operations levy, which pays for programs like athletics, extracurricular programs and other classroom activities that either aren’t funded or are underfunded by the state, according to the district. About 300 teaching positions and other staff are supported by that levy, a district website reads. The levy funds about 14% of the district’s budget per fiscal year.
If both measures are approved, the district estimates that taxes would increase by about 38 cents per $1,000 of assessed home value, adding about $260 per year to property tax bills for the average homeowner in the district.
Bond measures require a supermajority of 60% approval to pass, and turnout must equal at least 40% of the last general election. Levy measures require only a simple majority for approval.
Voters in the Mukilteo district have consistently approved funding measures for schools in recent years. Since 2010, no operations levies, capital levies or bonds have failed to pass there. The school district’s last bond approval was in 2020, a $240 million package that added new classrooms and began replacements to six schools districtwide, along with security and infrastructure upgrades.
Election day is Feb. 11.
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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