After bonds' near passage, try again?

Education
After bonds' near passage, try again?

By Lynn Thompson
Times Snohomish County Bureau

The narrow defeat of a $171.6 million bond measure has left Marysville School District and community leaders with differing opinions of what to do if another measure goes before voters next school year.

The measure garnered nearly 59 percent approval in the May 17 special election, just short of the 60 percent supermajority required for passage.

Don Whitfield, who co-chaired a citizens bond campaign, said the near passage of the proposal suggests the community will support a plan to build a high school and three elementary schools.

"We just have to work a little harder to reach more people," Whitfield said. "If we take some things off [the proposal], they'll just be more expensive down the road."

But School Board member Michael Kundu said he will propose submitting a smaller bond measure to voters, with only the $71 million high school included.

"I think the amount needs to come down to get those extra votes," Kundu said. "The bottom line is, we want to succeed for students."

The Marysville measure was one of two to go before voters in Snohomish County. In Granite Falls, voters approved a bond measure on the district's fourth attempt. The $30 million measure gained 61 percent approval.

"It's so exciting for the entire community," said Granite Falls district spokeswoman Kathy Grant. "It's been eight years since we started the discussion."

Passage of the measure will allow the district to build a replacement high school, scheduled to be completed in 2007, that will initially serve 800 students but could be expanded to hold 1,200.

The current high school will become a middle school, and the current middle school will become the district's third elementary school.

The measure will increase property taxes in Granite Falls by $144 per $100,000 of assessed value for the next 20 years. Homeowners now pay $447 per $100,000 for a four-year operations levy, approved last year, and a $7.5 million bond measure from 1999 that built classrooms at the high school.

Snohomish County's elections office will count outstanding ballots tomorrow and certify the results Friday. Elections officials said there are not enough uncounted ballots to change the outcome of either election.

Grant praised Marysville's efforts to pass the bond proposal, noting it was only a little more than a year ago that the district went through a long teachers strike.

After the strike, a new School Board majority was elected, the district's superintendent removed and a new superintendent hired.

"Given what's happened there, they should be proud of coming so close," Grant said.

In the weeks leading up to the Marysville bond election, board members and community leaders sought to present a united front, emphasizing the crowded conditions in the schools and the failure of the district to pass a bond measure since 1990.

But some in the community hadn't completely forgotten the turmoil of the recent past. James Elvrom, a lifelong Marysville resident, said he was still disgusted by the former School Board's decision to extend former Superintendent Linda Whitehead's contract, a contract that was then bought out for $340,000 by the new board.

"That's just throwing money down the drain," said Elvrom, a retired builder.

David Reed, a 20-year resident, said he voted for the bond measure but heard from plenty of people who did not.

"It was too big a tax at one time," Reed said.

The centerpiece of the proposal was a new high school to serve 1,600 students and relieve crowding at Marysville-Pilchuck, where 2,350 students now use a building designed for 1,850.

District enrollment projections for the next five years show the high-school population growing to 3,000 students.

For some Marysville parents who backed the measure, its failure presents some stark choices.

Darci Becker, who has two children in the district, said the consensus among moms at her daughter's elementary school was that they'd have to move out of Marysville.

"Who wants a high school with 3,000 students?" she asked.

Superintendent Larry Nyland said the district facilities committee, which had recommended projects for inclusion in the bond measure, should meet with the School Board and the citizens bond committee. He said the groups would discuss what should be included in a new proposal and when it should be put before voters.

Nyland said the next available election date, in September, would not give the district or parents much time after the summer to gear up for another campaign.

Based on feedback he received from voters, Nyland said that next time he hopes to reach more people with detailed information about the specific projects in the bond proposal. He said some voters told him the district had asked for "everything." But with no bond measures approved for 15 years, Nyland said, many buildings have critical needs.

He said he hoped to better publicize the district's plan to sell the bonds in stages so that school tax rates would not rise above $550 per $100,000 of assessed value over the next 20 years. District property owners paid $550 in 1996 and $679 in 1993, but the rate has fallen to $422 this year.

"The needs are there. They'll continue to be there," Nyland said.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com.