The list of school bond
measures grows
Burlington-Edison, Sedro-Woolley join Anacortes, Mount Vernon on April 24 ballot

Jennifer Carter can be reached at 360-416-2147 or jcarter@skagitvalley herald.com.

By JENNIFER CARTER and FRANNY WHITE
Staff Writers

Citing the need to update aging buildings and make room for a growing student population, the boards of both the Burlington-Edison and Sedro-Woolley school districts voted Monday to place bond propositions before voters on the April 24 ballot.

Burlington-Edison will pursue a $59.7 million bond issue, and Sedro-Woolley will seek $45 million.
Voters in four of seven Skagit County school districts are now set to consider bond propositions in the same election. Burlington-Edison and Sedro-Woolley join Mount Vernon Schools, which will ask voters to approve a $46.4 million bond issue, and Anacortes Schools, which will seek a $59.8 million bond issue.
Burlington-Edison voters rejected a $74 million bond proposition in the fall primary election, with about half voting no. Under state law, school bond propositions must win approval from more than 60 percent of voters to pass. The district's voters last approved a bond issue in 2001 for $19.95 million to pay for construction of Lucille Umbarger Elementary and remodeling projects.

In the Sedro-Woolley School District, voters last approved a $15 million bond issue in 1995 for expansion of Sedro-Woolley High School and remodeling at Big Lake, Lyman and Samish elementary schools.

Burlington-Edison

The School Board voted unanimously Monday to pursue a bond that would finance: Construction of a new elementary school on Peterson Road with capacity for 450 students.

• Remodeling at West View Elementary.
• Expansion and remodeling at Burlington-Edison High School.
• Purchase of property for an additional elementary school and for expansion north of the high school.

Compared to 2007 tax rates in the district, the proposed bond issue would increase the tax rate for bond debt by an estimated 79 cents per $1,000 assessed value, or about $198 on a $250,000 home. If approved, the bond issue would put the total tax rate for bond repayment at an estimated $1.45 per $1,000 assessed value.

The rate could be lower given the district's expanding tax base due to new construction, said Jon Gores of D.A. Davidson, the district's bond firm.

Before the vote, board members said the $59.7 million figure would relieve growth that has pushed more than 30 classes in the district into portables and prepare the district for more anticipated growth.

"We're crowded," Board President Liza Bott said. "The enrollment's growing. We know they're coming."
Board member Mike Dynes said the additional 18 classrooms the projects would add in the district are preferable to portables, which stress building infrastructure such as bathrooms and cafeterias with more students than they are designed to hold.

Board member Mike McLeod said the voters he's spoken with who rejected the district's $74 million bond issue request have reconsidered now that the board is asking for less.

"They voted 'no' because they wanted us to come back, look at it and rework this," he said.

The board decided to put off construction of one elementary school and some of the proposed projects for the high school to whittle the request to $59.7 million.

McLeod said that has satisfied some formerly skeptical voters.

"They say, 'Go for it. It looks good,'" he said.

The board had considered a bond amount between $59 million and $60 million in recent weeks. McLeod said a $59.7 million bond issue would ensure that promised improvements to West View could be completed.

Under the previous proposal, the school would have been converted to an administration building, with West View students moving to a different school. The board last month decided to keep West View students in place with improvements to the school to get the full effect of the 18 classrooms to be added by the proposed new construction.

The board also approved a resolution Monday asking the state Legislature to pay for a sound barrier wall between Interstate 5 and the school. The freeway was built several years after the school.

Sedro-Woolley

Sedro-Woolley School's proposed $45 million bond issue would fund: Construction of a new middle school to replace 1950s-era Cascade Middle School. Modernization at 1970s-era Evergreen Elementary. Addition of four classrooms at Big Lake Elementary and five at Mary Purcell Elementary to accommodate increased enrollment. Creation of a covered commons area at the high school. Construction of covered activity areas at all elementary schools that do not already have one. If approved, the bond issue would increase tax rates in the district starting in 2008 by an estimated 83 cents per $1,000 assessed value over 2006 rates. That's about $208 on a $250,000 home.

District taxpayers in 2006 paid $1.06 per $1,000 assessed value for bond debt voters approved in 1995. With the new bond issue, the total rate for bond debt would increase to an estimated $1.89 per $1,000 assessed value.

All board members voted in favor of the resolution except board member and Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich, who abstained because his office must sign off on the language that will appear on the ballot.

"We believe this is a modest approach," District Superintendent Mark Venn said after the meeting. "We also think this is very much needed in our district as we look (at student growth)."

Although the district budgeted for a total of 3,790 students this school year, 3,868 students were actually enrolled on Feb. 1, Venn told the board before the vote.

The new middle school, to be built on property the district owns near the Janicki Industries campus, is intended to replace Cascade Middle School. That school was built in the 1950s to house 500 students but now has about 645 students and has had as many as 700, Venn has said. The school's location, near the busy intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 9, has also raised safety concerns.

After students moved to the new middle school, Cascade would be used to temporarily house classes as Evergreen and other schools were remodeled.

Evergreen, built in the early 1970s, hasn't been updated in more than a decade. Plans for the school call for improvements to the lighting, installation of hallways and permanent walls, and upgrades to the airflow system.