School districts in Spokane County are asking voters why their bonds failed, advice on next steps
Five school districts in Spokane County that suffered rejected tax proposals last month are regrouping and may be back to voters with smaller plans later this year.
Voters in the Spokane, Cheney, West Valley, Deer Park and Riverside school districts turned down bond proposals in February’s special election. All but Deer Park’s had majority support from voters, but none reached the 60% supermajority requirement needed to pass a bond measure.
School districts turn to bonds to pay for major construction projects, such as renovations to facilities, as is the case in Riverside, building new schools sought by Cheney and Deer Park, or replacements intended in Spokane and West Valley.
District officials had similar conversations about their “next steps” at their first school board meetings since the Feb. 13 election.
Countywide, superintendents said voters’ concerns over personal finances, increasing property values and inflation appeared to mar support for tax requests. Officials at most of the districts say they will solicit community input in designing a bond proposal that addresses districts’ most dire construction needs at a reduced price tag.
Districts each have the option to resend bond proposals to ballots in August, November or February elections. It’s too late this year to file a resolution for April special election ballots.
Some may also try for a capital levy, which generates less money for districts but only requires 50% voter approval to pass. Taxes collected under a capital levy pay for small construction projects, maintenance, safety and technology.
Here’s how each district regrouped following bond defeats.
Spokane Public Schools
The largest district in the county, which serves around 30,000 students in 57 schools, has been successful in passing bonds since its last defeat in 1967.
District officials released an anonymous survey on Thursday with questions on voters’ motivations and suggestions for a potential future proposal.
On Tuesday, the survey had around 2,500 respondents, around 80% from school staff and families, Superintendent Adam Swinyard said, though he wants more feedback from residents without kids in schools.
“The school district belongs to the community, and we are their employees and they hire us to provide a really critical service to our community and to our youth,” Swinyard said. “It’s important that all members of our school district are participating, engaging, sharing their perspective, giving advice.”
Early responses indicate the economy was the largest influence for voters, Swinyard said. The survey closes March 13.
Changes in the behavior of voters, who have in the past supported district tax proposals at well over thresholds required for passage, may spur changes in the district’s typical pattern of seeking a levy every three years and a bond every six.
Swinyard suggested the possibility at a special meeting before the Feb. 21 school board meeting that the district rerun the bond in November and later seek the 50% voter support required to pass a capital levy.
In his hypothetical, the district could remove some projects from its initial $200 million bond that could be paid for through a smaller capital levy, which could appear on ballots in 2027.
Items on the project list for the failed February proposal included replacing Adams and Madison elementary schools, expanding Garry Middle School, updating the older sections of North Central High School, designs for the future replacement of Balboa and Indian Trail elementary schools and other facility improvements. These projects are still needed, Swinyard said.
“The needs of kids at Madison and Adams and Garry Middle School and the other schools that were on that ballot, they experienced those needs today when they went to school,” Swinyard said at the school board meeting Feb. 21. “They didn’t go away.”
Some $50 million left over from the 2018 bond could act as a cushion for the district in case of emergency should a roof need a patch, for example.
The final say on if, when and how much for another bond measure is up to the school board, scheduled to meet on Wednesday. The board will review survey results during its March 20 meeting.
Cheney Public Schools
The future is hazy for the sweeping district that encompasses Cheney, Airway Heights and the West Plains. Enrollment projections of an extra 750 kids in the next decade, mostly in Airway Heights, guided the district’s $72 million bond request to build a new elementary school in the area and acquire land for a future school, among other projects.
In models drafted months before the election, district officials predicted elementary classrooms at their five schools would fill to 129% of their intended capacity over the next decade.
To evaluate voters’ motivations and influences, the district will send surveys to voters “relatively soon,” Superintendent Ben Ferney said at the district’s Feb. 28 school board meeting.
Though the final decision is up to the school board, Ferney said the district would need to consider survey results. Another bond measure may appear on November ballots.
Expecting higher turnout for the presidential race, positioning a bond request on ballots beside high-profile races would ensure the district can conquer the requirement on voter turnout to certify bond proposals. To pass, bonds need not only 60% support, but also a voter turnout of at least 40% of the ballots cast in the election prior. All the bonds that failed in February, however, reached the turnout threshold.
In addition to surveys, the district also plans to disseminate information voters may not have been aware of when casting their ballots – the district’s community-driven initiative used to gain opinions from residents in each of its distinct residential areas.
“The goal of that is to show the work that was done and then from there, get really good feedback, specific feedback that can help us determine what about the bond people didn’t support,” Ferney said.
West Valley School District
Dreams of funding a new West Valley school and building were halted last month when Millwood voters rejected a $92 million bond.
West Valley School District officials are turning their attention to its most pressing need – adding five kindergarten classrooms to its elementary schools by next year.
“Our bond was unsuccessful, and so with that piece, we still have to work on what this looks like to create shovel-ready projects,” Superintendent Kyle Rydell said at a board meeting Feb. 28.
That night, the school board unanimously agreed to move forward with an estimated $8 million plan, which would include adding two classrooms to Ness and three classrooms to Pasadena Park elementary schools.
The school district’s preschool program, which is located in a building the district leases, will move to the Millwood Kindergarten Center after the lease expires next year. The district plans to move kindergarten students to their neighborhood elementary schools, like Ness and Pasadena Park, starting the fall of 2025, Rydell wrote in an email.
Rydell said he hopes to have the projects out to bid by early April so construction can start this summer.
Without bond revenue, the board needs to decide how it will pay for the projects. The district could ask voters to approve a bond or levy in August or November.
Cory Plager, of D.A. Davidson & Co., proposed several additional options Wednesday the district could consider to finance its construction projects.
They included limited general obligation bonds, working with state or county treasurers and bank placement. The latter means banks could submit proposals and the district would analyze bids for the most favorable interest rates, prepayment options and bank fees, Plager said.
In addition to new kindergarten learning spaces, the bond that failed last month would have allowed the district to replace Centennial Middle School, construct a new shared-campus building for West Valley City School and Spokane Valley High School, and make district-wide capital improvements.
Deer Park School District
In a special meeting held Feb. 20, several community members and district staff joined the Deer Park School Board in volleying strategies to gather input and construct a proposal more appealing to voters than their failed $62 million bond.
The district also is asking for feedback in a survey.
Prioritization of capital projects was the district’s initial instinct, Superintendent Alexa Allman said.
Projects to be funded by the failed bond proposal included a new elementary school, renovations on Arcadia Elementary School to make way for the Home Link program, renovations on Deer Park Middle School and a new bus facility.
“We know that we’ve got space at the middle school, we know that we’ve got space at the high school. So those are not a factor,” Allman said. “We know that we’re out of space completely in Arcadia.”
Allman said the district’s offices also are too small because Home Link, a program that assists families in the district who home-school their children, is operating there.
District officials brainstormed ideas to make room for an expected population swell in facilities already bursting at the seams. Allman suggested erecting portables to serve as classrooms, which cost around a half-million each.
Among “creative” alternatives, staff suggested shifting fifth-graders to middle school and eighth-graders to high school to make room at Arcadia, currently a patchwork of a school; staff converted the cafeteria into a classroom, the gym into a cafeteria, a classroom into the library and the former library into an intervention room. Some closets became offices, and three portables outside the school are housing six classrooms.
To come up with priorities and draft plans, the district will reassemble the facilities planning committee that penned the original bond proposal. Staff said November would be their “best bet,” for returning the bond to ballots.
Riverside School District
Riverside officials in northern Spokane County also plans to engage in a conversation with their community to discern the cause behind their $73 million bond‘s defeat at 50.3% support. Superintendent Ken Russell proposed seeking feedback at town halls, neighborhood associations, online surveys, and during in-person meetings away from the vitriol of social media.
“If people believe we’re mismanaging our money, we need to talk to them. We need to listen to them,” Russell said at the board meeting.
For feedback, they didn’t have to look far. An unusually well-attended Riverside school board meeting on Feb. 21 turned into a town hall-style conversation between district staff and the dozen residents there. Attendees largely cited personal financial struggles, distrust in government or state-level policies for the bond failure.
One attendee suggested updates in the district’s newsletter about capital projects and their costs as they occur around the district, to create “more of a partnership,” he said.
Another suggested other means of fundraising: hosting events or soliciting donations, though Russell reasoned these may not generate the millions needed to complete construction. For that, Russell anticipates a bond or capital levy is necessary.
“If we can find less expensive ways of addressing some of these issues, I just don’t know if we can get at it without a capital levy at least, and without some bond, now is it a smaller bond?” Russell asked.
The board didn’t decide if and when the bond may return to ballots, pending community input.
“The more information and the more questions, the better we are as a community,” said Riverside School Board member Joslyn James, imploring further engagement.
“Help us make that decision about what we’re gonna do.”