New construction bond very pricey

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2006

I am an architect who has worked on school projects. My wife, mother and father-in-law are, or were, teachers. I support schools, and ask that all support the Everett operating levy, but am strongly opposed to the new construction bond issue.

Everett schools have had some of the highest taxing rates in the region for years. Nearby districts have been upgrading for years, but Everett seems to have waited until now, and wants to take them all on at once. Almost $200 million is a huge bond issue.

There has been little discussion, that I have heard, until now. View Ridge Elementary, where my daughter attends, will receive the largest part of the construction budget, at $22 million. Now, a comparable school I worked on had an area of 50,000 square feet. If View Ridge is a similar size, that works out to be $440 a square foot. This seems extremely pricey. And where is the state funding in all of this? The people who brought us this bond seem to be trying to keep all the details quiet. They don’t add up the money or explain fully where it’s going. Let’s vote this bond down, and have the school district come back with a bond issue that’s more reasonable, and better accounted for.

Bob Bozorth

Everett