On April 17, Issaquah School District voters will decide the fate of a proposed bond for new schools and school improvements.
Mercer Island voters are being asked the same day to support a $196,275,000 bond for rebuilding the three elementary schools and Islander Middle School.
The Issaquah School District is asking for $219 million to fund both construction and maintenance through 2019. The proposal covers the rebuilding of three schools, adding on to two others, as well as a second phase of remodeling at Liberty High School in Renton.
The Issaquah School District is vast. It includes all of Issaquah, part of Sammamish, some of Renton, Preston and half of Newcastle. There are 56,000 registered voters in the district. Mercer Island has approximately 16,000 registered voters.
Leslie Austin, co-chair of Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, said Issaquah goes out for a bond every four years. This should have occurred two years ago, but she said they delayed it because of the economy and because of previous projects that were still underway.
“The district has waited six years to go to voters,” Austin said. “There was still a lot of construction going on under previous bonds.”
Similar to the Mercer Island methodology, a feasibility committee was formed, much like the Island’s 21st Century Facilities Planning Committee, to study what was needed and to make recommendations to the school board and superintendent. The committee started out with what she called a “springboard proposal” of projects large and small, before finally making their recommendations.
The Issaquah School Board approved the final package last fall.
“To us it would be inconceivable in Issaquah to allow only two months,” she said in reference to the time between MISD’s final plan and election date.
In relation to current tax expenditures, residents in the Issaquah School District can expect to see a decrease in local school taxes even if the bond is approved.
For example, the owner of a $500,000 home would pay about $215 less per year.
Recognizing the current economic climate, the new bond package in Issaquah, spread over eight years, is structured to be about half as much as the bond debt retiring in 2012. The retiring bond debt will drop the tax rate from $4.85 to $4.05 per $1,000 of assessed property value; approval of the new bond will result in an estimated $4.42 tax rate.
Other districts have tried mightily to pass construction measures.
On Feb. 14, voters in several school districts approved levies to fund basic school operations, but were not keen on splurging on major construction. Voters in Auburn, Federal Way and Renton rejected the measures aimed at building maintenance, renovation and construction projects.
Only 47.49 percent of voters supported a six-year, $60 million capital levy to mostly fund a major renovation at Federal Way High School. A $110 million bond measure to pay for modernizing Auburn High School appears to have failed as well.
And in Renton, 58.08 percent of voters had approved a $97 million bond measure to mostly fund the construction of a new middle school in the northern part of the district.
Only Vashon Island was passing with a four-year $3.6 million capital-levy renewal.
As on Mercer Island, those districts also require 60 percent approval.
