LWSD Advisory Committee Proposes New Bond and Levy Rates

A citizen advisory committee for the Lake Washington School District (LWSD) has recommended for a series of levy and bond measures expected to appear on the ballot in a special February 2014 election. 

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The plan calls for a bond measure to raise $755 million for building new schools and accommodating growth, along with increases to the Educational Program & Operations (EPO) levy and Capital Projects Levy for technology. The Capital Projects Levy for facilities, meanwhile, would decrease by 5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

If passed, the two levy increases and bond measure would bring the district's total tax rate from $3.92 (estimate for 2014 without the increases) to $4.73 per $1,000 of assessed value. A report from the advisory committee notes the current rates in neighboring districts are $3.25 for Bellevue, $4.74 in Issaquah, $5.30 for Northshore and $5.87 in Shoreline.

Members of the public are invited to weigh in on the proposed increases at the Aug. 5 school board meeting meeting. 

LWSD officials announced earlier this year that they expect enrollment in the district to increase by more than 4,000 students in the next nine years. The greatest need, the district said, will be in the Redmond learning community—Redmond High School and the elementary and middle schools that feed into it—where 2,280 more students than permanent classrooms are expected by 2021-22. 

The bond measure would pay for three new elementary schools—one in Redmond Ridge East, one on the north end of Redmond and one at an undetermined location elsewhere in the district. The funds would also be used to expand Juanita, Lake Washington and Eastlake high schools and build two new choice schools—a STEM school on the west side of the district and an international-focused school on the east side.

The remainder of the money would go toward modernization or replacement at five "phase 3" schools and construction of a new middle school, if the district can acquire the property to do so. If not, existing middle schools would be expanded.

A $234-million bond measure that would have built two new elementary schools, along with other upgrades, failed to pass by about 1,500 votes.

If a measure doesn't pass this time around, LWSD officials have said that a district-wide boundary adjustment will be necessary to accommodate the growth in Redmond Ridge. A temporary boundary adjustment between Rosa Parks and Wilder elementary schools will go into effect there this fall.