Seattle Times Editorial
King County voters should approve school construction tax requests in the Mercer Island, Issaquah and Renton school districts.
VOTERS should say yes to school-construction bond requests from three King County school districts. Rebuilding aging schools supports learning every bit as much as buying textbooks or hiring a new teacher.
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Funds would improve facilities, better utilize others still in use
We moved to Issaquah in 1994 for its public schools, location and sense of community. Our kids are in middle and high school now, and we still congratulate ourselves for that smart decision.
Issaquah will be even better with the April school bond. It’s a timely investment in our schools that tackles several key issues.
One issue is Issaquah Middle School, an open campus built in 1955 with the high heating bills to prove it. The bond offers a thoughtful, coordinated plan to rebuild IMS next to the high school (perfect!), reuse part of the IMS campus to build a larger Clark Elementary School, and reuse a separate part of IMS to house Tiger Mountain Community High and enable it to support new career and tech programs.
With all the stretching of school dollars, I also appreciate that the bond addresses significant maintenance needs in our school buildings so these needs won’t pull dollars from our classrooms. We can gain all this and more, and watch our property tax rate decrease thanks to being in a school district that is a careful steward of tax money.
The school bond is a great opportunity for Issaquah. Please vote yes!
Camille Vaska, Parent volunteer, Issaquah public schools
Carefully constructed bond reflects the values of our community
Our community benefits from excellent schools and excellent teachers. There is a connection between the two. Over many years, I listened to why new teachers chose Issaquah schools over those of other districts, and I heard them name the facilities provided for our children as one of the top reasons. Our schools not only provide environments that facilitate learning and stimulate creativity, they are also a reflection of the value our community places on education.
A citizen’s committee, after careful consideration, recommended a bond package to the school board, which carefully weighed this investment against the need to replace old buildings, protect and maintain our community assets, ensure the usability and safety of our facilities, accommodate future capacity and provide optimal learning environments. It reflects the values of our community and respects our ability to invest in our future.
I urge you to vote yes on the April 17 Issaquah School District Construction and Maintenance Bond.
Connie Fletcher
A yes vote improves learning environment for 17,000 students
I am an 11th-grade student at Skyline High School and on behalf of my peers I urge and implore you to vote for the Issaquah School District’s capital bond.
You have doubtlessly heard about the virtues of the capital bond from various respected figures in the community, ranging from City Council members to state legislators. However, they are not affected by the capital bond as my peers and I are. Seventeen thousand of my peers are relying on your vote to improve the conditions of our schools, to maximize our potential and to make our educational experience the best it can be.
It may seem that making costly improvements to stadiums is a silly waste of money that could be spent on other things, but athletics is exceptionally important to my peers; it builds character, and brings in extra revenue and press to the school district. It may seem that rebuilding Clark Elementary, Issaquah Middle and Sunny Hills elementary schools is a waste of our money when there are cheaper alternatives, but fixing the problems with those schools now will prevent us from having to take a costlier path to fix the problems later. And it may seem that your taxes will increase with this bond, but they will actually decrease. There are no losers when you vote yes.
It may seem that the capital bond is not the right option, but that is not the truth. I have been a part of the bond process from nearly the very beginning, having served on the Capital Bond Feasibility and Development Committee during my sophomore year, and I understand the importance of having this bond passed. It is my hope that you, too, will understand that the bond should be passed.
When you get your ballots in the mail, vote yes for the capital bond and support me and my peers in our struggle to achieve our full potential, compete in a global economy and be the best that we can be.
Joshua Schaier
I’m writing this letter in support of the Issaquah School District Bond.
Readers are undoubtedly aware of some of the reasoning behind voting for the bond – reasons like ensuring that the investment made in public schools is maintained for future generations; that property values increase with the excellence of the school district’s performance; the fact that our district has been able to keep our construction costs low and still create state-of-the-art facilities. These are very important reasons.
On a more elementary note, however, is the fact that the newer buildings in the district are bright and safe and comfortable and provide an excellent learning environment for our students. They are home-away-from-home to our more than 1,000 educators and word gets around. A comment I often hear from teachers new to Issaquah – but who have worked previously in other districts – is what wonderful facilities Issaquah has. The heat works, the ceilings don’t leak, playgrounds and commons areas are safe and inviting. Educators and students are not distracted by maintenance and safety issues. The focus of their day can be directed on teaching and learning.
Now it’s time to bring our older buildings up to the same level of quality as the newer ones – so all our students have the same excellent learning environment. You, the voters, can make this happen.
Our schools are a vital part of the Issaquah community. Please vote “YES” on the Issaquah School District Bond.
Phyllis Runyon, President
Issaquah Education Association
There are so many wonderful reasons to live in Issaquah. I love the salmon hatchery, the miles of untouched forests, hiking trails and the Village Theatre. But it is the community of Issaquah that I am most proud of – friendly, helpful and always willing to do the work required to make a difference.
I am lucky to be raising my three children in Issaquah and proud of our great schools where students are receiving a top-notch education despite the fact that Issaquah continues to get the short end of the funding stick in Olympia.
In just a few weeks, your ballot will arrive for the spring election and I am urging you to vote YES for the Issaquah School District’s bond campaign.
Voting yes on this maintenance bond allows some of our oldest schools to be rebuilt at a time when construction costs are at a historic low. Voting yes ensures that leaky roofs, broken boilers and flickering lights are repaired. Voting yes will allow for the Issaquah school district to continue to develop and expand technical and career training options so that all kids have access to the education they need to be successful. But most critically, voting yes protects Issaquah School District’s operational dollars and keeps that money in the classroom to be spent on teachers, curriculum and training.
The bond committee carefully crafted this bond package to take advantage of long-term economic conditions that may never be available to us again. And, when we pass this new bond package, our taxes will still decrease from current levels. Win, win, win!
Please help me in investing in the future of our kids by voting yes for the bond.
Kristen Allen-Bentsen
We wish the Issaquah School District had been more conservative in its request to fund the long list of items on the April 17 construction bond, but we get why it did so.
With another school bond ending its 20 years of tax collections, this is a good time to get a lot of catch-up work done on our school facilities, while still giving taxpayers a couple hundred dollars’ reduction in property taxes next year (an estimated $215 drop on a $500,000 assessed valuation home.)
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Vote yes to maintain investment in schools
Voters will soon receive mail-in ballots for the Issaquah School District bond election. If you’re a senior citizen like me, you might be asking yourself why you should support this bond measure. Here are a few reasons that I hope will move you to vote yes.
We have an unparalleled opportunity to maintain our schools, expand the district’s technical and vocational education offerings, and bring old school sites into the modern age, all for a reduced tax rate. As a senior citizen, I recognize a bargain when I see one. Please join me in voting yes for the Issaquah School District bond measure.
Barbara de Michele
Vote YES for our Schools
I was invited to join dozens in our community last fall to serve on the Issaquah School District’s Capital Bond Feasibility & Development Committee. I was the representative for Sunset Elementary. I am glad I accepted the invitation as it provided me with insight into the years of thoughtful decision making that go into this process. We are very fortunate to have intelligent and passionate leadership in our schools and our community. Our committee asked many tough questions regarding the timing, the economy, and the need. After much debate it was agreed this was the time and there was the need. In fact, this is the best time given our district’s strong AAA rating, low interest rates and low construction costs.
Like a lot of families we moved to Issaquah for the schools and we have not been disappointed. As with anything else, school buildings require ongoing capital investments to maintain and improve safety, capacity and efficiency.
I encourage you to vote YES for the school bond on your April 17th mail-in ballot. Your support will make it possible to rebuild our oldest schools, take care of critical maintenance and repair projects across the district and put more money back into the classrooms. The new buildings will be about 30% more efficient with their utility costs and emergency repairs come directly out of our district’s operating budget if not included in a maintenance bond. It is also important to understand the bond is structured so that our property taxes will actually decrease. The owner of a $500,000 home will pay about $215 less each year then they are paying now.
Our students, teachers and volunteers are a great source of pride. Recent bonds have built new schools, replaced old schools and improved the behind-the-scenes operations of every other school. We can’t take our schools for granted and we can’t take this vote for granted. For more information visit www.visvote.org and please vote YES.
Hamilton McCulloh, Issaquah, Wash.
Occasionally parents and residents come to me with questions about the school district, unaware that the district and the city are two entirely separate governmental entities.
But their confusion is completely understandable. More than any other city I know, the success of the city of Issaquah is tied to the success of the Issaquah School District. People move to Issaquah for many reasons, but I believe the foremost is to be able to send their children to ISD schools. Nobody comes here for the weather!
Washington is saddled with an archaic funding scheme that leaves our diverse student body with less state dollars than more affluent districts, such as Bellevue and Mercer Island. It’s so bad that the courts recently found that the Legislature’s funding system violates the state constitution’s requirement that education be the state’s paramount duty.
But year after year, the Issaquah School District does more with less than any other district in the state. Part of that is exceptional fiscal oversight; as beautiful as the rebuilt Issaquah High School is, for example, it cost much less per square foot than other recent Eastside rebuilds.
The other reason is the foresight of local voters to fund education as the great investment that it is. School levies allow the ISD to be nationally competitive, and school bonds allow long-term capital items to be funded outside the operational budget, saving core dollars for classrooms.
Issaquah is a large district with many schools that have been around a long time. There are many repairs that are needed. The district’s growth has slowed down, which is why this is a smaller bond than the last time, and for eight years instead of six. That’s why your school bond tax burden, if this bond is passed, will go down compared to last year. That’s good, restrained management, and allows me to wholeheartedly support this upcoming bond.
You’ll be receiving your ballot in the mail shortly; I hope you’ll think about the long-term health of the city, and join me in voting “yes!”
Tola Marts,
president
Issaquah City Council