Community talks about bond, levy

Moses Lake School Board President Kevin Donovan addresses questions from Moses Lake residents at the community forum held at Frontier Middle School Monday. Many people had questions about the bond and levy the school district asks voters to approve Feb. 14.

by Herald Staff Writer & Steven Wyble
| February 9, 2012 5:00 AM

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School Board members met with the public at Frontier Middle School.

It was the last community forum before voters decide whether to approve the levy and bond the school district has put on the Feb. 14 ballot.

The replacement maintenance and operation levy will raise $15.2 million in 2013; $15.9 million in 2014; and $16.7 million in 2015. The estimated collection rate would be $3.45 in 2013, $3.51 in 2014, and $3.59 in 2015.

The district also seeks to pass a replacement bond to raise $115 million to build a new high school and two new elementary schools.

The bond is estimated to cost $2.25 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That includes the cost of the bond the district passed in 2007. The bond the district passed in 1993 will be paid off in 2012.

Plans to move sixth-grade students to the new elementary schools were on the minds of several people at the forum.

One person asked about programs for sixth-graders at the new schools, such as band and choir.

The long-range planning committee strictly considered the space the district needed to accommodate students and did not look at program design or curriculum, said School Board President Kevin Donovan.

"The program design team at this point in time has not even begun to meet and they have not begun to have those conversations yet, because we have to pass the bond first," he said. "And to ask a whole group of people to meet together and come up with a design, we need to pass the bond first ... So once the bond passes in February, almost immediately there will be a design team that will be looking at secondary education throughout Moses Lake School District and how to integrate the sixth-graders back into elementary and how to look at some of those programs."

Board member Vicki Groff pointed out that when Moses Lake sixth graders were part of the elementary schools in the past, band was offered for both fifth- and sixth-grade students.

"I am fearful of sixth-grade going back to the elementary schools," said Yvonne Tolley.

She has five children and three of them have gone through fifth grade, she said.

"I feel like when we approach fifth- grade, we come to a halting stop," she said. "They are bored to death ... And then my kids get to Frontier and they blossom. Everything's like they get gassed up again. The cylinder gets recharged. We run out of gas about fourth, fifth grade; we get to sixth grade and boy, man, we're cooking again."

Much of the reasoning for moving sixth-graders to the elementary schools is due to financial factors, said Donovan. The district does not qualify for state matching funds to build a middle school. Building a middle school would require a $130-$140 million bond as opposed to the $115 million bond the district is asking voters to approve, he said.

The move might be positive for fifth-graders, he added.

"This is strictly speculating, but it could be that we end up with some type of fifth and sixth grade to where not only do we try to maintain what the sixth-graders are getting now, but we're dramatically improving what the fifth-graders are getting now, because we're able to bring sixth-grade teachers in that are teaching fifth and sixth," said Donovan.

After the meeting, Tolley clarified that she feels fifth-grade teachers are doing a good job, but wonders if the curriculum could be improved.

Attending the forum made her reevaluate her take on the sixth-grade move to the elementary schools, she said.

"Maybe moving the sixth-graders back is going to be better," she said.

Asked when the new schools would open, Donovan explained that it takes approximately two years to design a high school and another two years to construct it, said Donovan. The soonest the new high school could open is the 2015-2016 or 2016-2017 school year, he said.

The two new elementary schools could be built faster, because the district could use the same architectural plans used to build Sage Point and Park Orchard schools.

Donovan explained that the levy includes some of the startup costs associated with the new schools. But because the high school would not open for several years, many of the costs would be funded by future levies, he said.

The state would also provide additional funding as the school district grows, because they receive additional funds per student as enrollment increases, he added.

Some staff from Moses Lake High School would move to the new high school, added Lupo.

Until the new schools are built, the district will have to find creative solutions to overcrowding at the high school and middle schools, said Groff. That may include leasing buildings, implementing year-round school or teaching students in shifts, she said.

"No matter what happens in the next two weeks, we have 2,350 kids at the high school next year," said Donovan. "It's a school built for 1,700. It's going to continue to grow. We know that. So we're going to have to get creative, as a school district, as a school board, in how do you handle that many children? ... The question is, how long are we going to have to maintain that creativity?"

Donovan explained that although the levy and bond may be approved at a certain rate, as property value increases, the rate may decrease.

The 2007 bond was approved at $1.85 per $1,000 of assessed value. Last year, because property values within the district increased, the collection rate was $1.18 per $1,000 of assessed value, he said.

"The figures that you've seen, they're high and they're intentionally high," he said. "Not that we're trying to scare people into voting no, but because we don't want to come out and say 'We want $3.45,' and turn and collect $3.46. ... If we say $3.45, we're hoping it's going to end up being $3.35 or $3.25."

Ballots for the special election have been mailed to voters and must be postmarked by Feb. 14.