Snohomish High School is made up of a hodge-podge of buildings that span nearly every decade since the 1930s.
From Hitler’s march into Austria, to the start of the Watergate scandal, to the blockbuster opening of “Star Wars Episode I.”
The sprawling nature of the campus makes passing from class to class a race, while safety and security are tough to maintain.
Behind a sturdy brick facade, wiring is so out of date in some classrooms that computers can’t be used.
With a sparkling new high school slated to go up to the south along Cathcart Way, school leaders want to preserve Snohomish High’s 111-year history as well as put it on equal footing for the 21st century.
Voters in 2004 approved a $141.6 million plan to modernize the school, as well as build the second high school and a new elementary school in the growing south end of the district, among other improvements.
Like other school districts in the state, Snohomish is finding that 2006 prices don’t match up to 2004 dreams.
In all, estimates for its three major construction projects have gone up more than $46 million from those given at the time of the bond.
“When you run a bond for $141 million, you think, ‘Boy, we’re going to get some really great schools for that money,’” said Patty Venema, a Snohomish parent who served on a bond advisory committee. “It’s not cutting it anymore.”
Rising cost estimates have already put more than $20 million worth of the Snohomish High modernization on hold, before a jackhammer even upturns the asphalt there.
That means no updates to the historic Building A, built in 1939 and considered a hallmark of the campus. More visitor parking and new science labs also will wait – at least, until more money is found.
Increased costs to build the two new schools also play a role, by eating up what bond money is available.
“Leaving a big empty shell … or leaving key things undone (at the second high school) would be a mistake,” Snohomish School Board President Tom Pendergast said. “Our mission now is to find additional funding so that we can make the modernization every bit as good as the new high school. That’s still our goal.”
But at least one parent worries the north will be shortchanged.
Parent Brian Berard thinks the district could have reduced costs but chose not to – by constructing the new elementary out of wood, for example, or working with Snohomish County to share facilities with the new Willis D. Tucker Regional Park.
“It appears now more cuts are being considered to the existing Snohomish High School renovation, which was promised to be equal in quality to the new high school,” said Berard, an architect who works in the University of Washington’s capital projects office.
Berard was a member of an advisory group on the bond projects, which he said was made up largely of south-end residents. “It is hoped the school board will act more fair-mindedly to share the cuts between all projects.”
School leaders are getting appraisals on land they own to see if any is worth selling. Still, that wouldn’t be a big money-maker.
Instead, they’re turning their sights to the Legislature.
Snohomish isn’t alone, although it’s facing the biggest shortfall, said Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish. In all, schools statewide are trying to find $50 million to cover the gap between construction costs and initial estimates, he said.
Dunshee wants to tap a $137 million increase in revenue from a tax on the sale of real estate to plug the holes, using “money that is from the growth to pay for the growth.”
He noted that this comes after lawmakers approved a 54 percent increase in state matching dollars for school construction, the most in the program’s history. “Then to have it gobbled up by all the construction costs …” he said, trailing off.
While inflation sticks around 3 percent, construction costs have been rising at double-digit rates, up to 20 percent.
Steel, concrete and copper wire are at a premium with China’s construction boom, Hurricane Katrina rebuilding and preparations for the Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. Demand for private work in Snohomish County is hot, and labor costs are up.
Statewide, the average base bid for high school construction is at $201.47 per square foot, up from $112.41 in 1992, a 79 percent increase, according to numbers kept by the state superintendent’s office.
For Snohomish, getting the bond passed in the first place was an accomplishment.
The bond’s 61 percent support was in contrast to 1997, when Snohomish voters twice rejected a similar proposal. School measures need a 60 percent supermajority to pass.
At that time, voters in the north end of the district – what some folks call “old Snohomish” – struck down proposals that would have built a second high school south of the Snohomish Valley.
Superintendent Bill Mester is visiting schools and community groups to explain the situation.
He said the district has managed its money well, finding $30 million in additional revenue through interest earnings and other sources. The problem is unprecedented cost increases.
“We’re looking at two high schools that are approaching $90 million. There’s no way to scale these projects back to the original budget and still do the projects,” he said.
The work at Snohomish High will be done; it’s just a matter of when and with what funds.
“We need to keep our eyes focused that we are going to have two comprehensive, equitable high schools,” Mester said. “We just have another hurdle we have to get over.”
The 2004 bond is the first of three packages planned by the district on the advice of an advisory group in 2003.
In the worst-case scenario, the district will add the cost of finishing the modernization project onto the next bond proposal it seeks, which had been slated for 2008.
Marc Crawford, a 1990 graduate of Snohomish High School who still lives in the north end, said he would vote “yes.”
“They were talking about (adding a second high school) when I was in school. Back then it was a dream,” he said.
Crawford doesn’t mind that a new school is taking precedence over his alma mater. “If you don’t do it now, you’ll have to pay for it later,” he said.
On the other end of the district, Venema looks forward to her daughter being in the first graduating senior class at the new high school. The mother is part of an advisory group working on the transition from one high school to two.
“Both schools should be totally comparable. We shouldn’t have haves and have-nots. Everybody is totally on that page,” she said. “We’ll get a plan and solve the problem. It might take longer than we originally thought.”
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
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