By Pat Jenkins
The Dispatch
Construction of new homes and other signs of growth don’t lie. People are flooding into Pierce County, including areas such as Graham and Spanaway in the Bethel School District.
In the case of families, the influx means more students for Bethel to keep up with by making room for them. Since its last new schools opened in 2009, the district has added 1,800 students – 450 in one 12-month period alone from October 2016 to October 2017 -- for a total enrollment of 20,000. Another 3,000 are projected over the next 10 years.
“We’re growing, and we’re only going to continue to grow by thousands of students in the coming years,” said Mel Boyd, Bethel’s director of human resources.
That growth is why voters in the Bethel are deciding on a $443 million bond to build a new high school and two new elementary schools and do major makeovers of two existing high schools and improvements or expansions of 10 other schools. The projects would alleviate overcrowding, according to bond supporters.
Ballots that voters started receiving last week also have two levies that would pay for technology and other educational needs that officials said aren’t funded by the state.
District officials concede that three measures on one ballot are a lot to ask of voters. What’s more, the bond proposal is $200 higher than one that voters rejected twice in 2016.
But according to the district, even counting the forthcoming state tax increase for schools, Bethel property owners will see a decrease in their school-related taxes in 2019 if the bond and levies pass when voting ends Feb. 13. Officials point out that, based on estimated assessed values, the average valuation of a home in the district is currently about $250,000, which carries a school-related tax bill of $1,736 in 2018. For 2019, school taxes on such a house would drop $1,478. The reason for the decrease is that under state law, Bethel’s levy collection rate per $1,000 of assessed value rate is dropping from $4.39 in 2017 to $4.07 this year and to $1.50 next year.
Here’s what else voters will get if 60 percent of them – the required supermajority -- approve the bond:
• Three brand new schools -- a high school at 224th Street East and 70th Avenue East and two elementary schools on land near Naches Trail Elementary School and a site to be determined.
• New buildings to replace the modular structures currently used by Challenger High School.
• Modernization and/or expansion of five schools -- Bethel High School, Cedarcrest Middle School, Elk Plain School of Choice (which houses grades kindergarten through eight), Evergreen Elementary School, and Naches Trail.
• New heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for Graham, Rocky Ridge, Camas Prairie and Centennial elementary schools.
• Pedestrian-safety improvements at Bethel and Spanaway Lake high schools and Evergreen, and improved traffic circulation at Camas Prairie.
• Upgraded school-meal kitchens at Bethel Middle School and Roy Elementary School.
• Synthetic turf for football and soccer fields at Graham-Kapowsin and Spanaway Lake high schools.
• Improvements districtwide in school security cameras and energy efficiency, including lighting.
The greater dollar value of this bond and 2016’s is due in part to the price tag on building new schools. The new high school alone would cost $139 million, and the two elementary schools combined would cost about $100 million.
The new bond’s total dollar would b $570 million -- $443 million of that in local property tax revenue and the other $127 million in state assistance.
Gone from this year’s bond is a swimming pool complex – supporters called it an aquatics center – that some voters criticized as unnecessary and at least part of the reason they voted against the 2016 bond proposal.
Two levies
The district is asking voters to continue their past support of two levies – one to pay for classroom needs and sports, the other for technology – that were last approved in 2014.
• The Educational Programs and Operations Levy would cost property taxpayers $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. According to the district, that’s less than in past years because the state’s new formula for funding schools increases the state school tax and reduces local levies.
The Bethel levy helps cover costs that the state doesn’t. That includes labor contracts, special education, transportation, substitute teachers, training days and other professional development for teachers, athletics and extracurricular activities in academics.
• The $5.5 million Technology Levy pays for learning-related use of iPads, Apple TVs, keyboards, WiFi, digital-learning coaches, and related equipment and personnel . The levy’s dollar amount is increasing because of inflation and an increase in the number of students since 2014. Without a continued levy, there won’t be enough technology equipment for all students, officials said.
Each of the levies will pass or fail with a majority of anything over 50 percent of the votes.
Feb. 13 is the last day voters can cast their ballots by mail or in official dropboxes provided by Pierce County. The county elections department recommends mailing ballots by Feb. 10 to ensure they’ll be postmarked no later than the final day of the special election.
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