Sultan school bond opponents question cost priorities

Sultan School District staff, parents and members of the community gathered to discuss the failed school bond during a town hall-style meeting last week, that included input from those that voted for and against the measure.-á

The meeting took place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Volunteers of America (VOA) Western Washington in Sultan, and was facilitated by Sultan School District Superintendent Dan Chaplik.

Had it passed, the district's bond measure would have funded a total of $47.77 million in improvements and generated around $9 million in matching funds.

Chaplik said it's all about moving forward and doing better next time.

The Sultan School District has a student population of roughly 1,950 students spread out among four schools: Gold Bar Elementary, Sultan Elementary, Sultan Middle School and Sultan High School.

The funding would have enhanced all four schools and built a new educational support services center near the middle school. The bond measure was placed on the Feb. 9 ballot, and failed with a 43.51 percent approval rate.

School bond measures require a 60 percent majority to pass.

Chaplik told attendees he had received feedback from voters who had issues both with the content of the bond and the cost. He clarified the project list was engineered by the Bond Planning Committee, an all-volunteer committee that spent several months touring the schools and assessing the district's needs.-á

"What we put out before you wasn't decided just by me,GÇ¥ Chaplik said. "It was decided by a committee that worked on it for quite a long time.GÇ¥

The bulk of the funding, about $32 million, would have been used to modernize Sultan High School, including constructing a new performing arts center, gym, four new general classrooms and four new classrooms for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). It would have renovated the locker rooms, shop and expanded the music and band program facilities.

Currently, music department director Jill Sumpter's music class of 80 students is crammed into a classroom built for 43.-á

VOA Director Calei Vaughn said she had difficulty accepting the bond's 25-year time span, along with its $47.7 million price tag. She questioned the need for a new performing arts center, suggesting the district consider asking for less money for a shorter term, in order to make the tax increase more palatable.

"I know our schools need a lot of stuff and I know our kids deserve it,GÇ¥ Vaughn said. "That's something I'm not going to argue at all.GÇ¥

The performing arts center was a sticking point that was brought up several times. Former Sultan School Board member Steve Fox said voters had asked him why the district didn't look at combining a gym and performing arts area, rather than proposing two separate facilities.-á

Sultan High School physical education instructor and football coach Ben Murphy referred to the concept of a combined gym and performing arts center as a "gymnatorium.GÇ¥ While it sounds like a good idea in theory, Murphy said, when put into practice, it falls short. Athletics serve as a disruption to theater classes, and having both running simultaneously is not conducive to the success of either program, he said.

"We have something very similar at our middle school,GÇ¥ Murphy said. "The middle school stage is not used any longer because of how loud the gym is.GÇ¥

Sultan School District Athletic Director Scott Sifferman was asked to clarify the need for a new gym, synthetic turf field and track.

Sifferman started with the track, saying it's overdue to be resurfaced.

"It's worn, it's tired, and what we've been noticing is the last couple of springs during track season we're treating a lot of shin splint issues,GÇ¥ Sifferman said.

The bond would have provided for improvements on the existing baseball and softball field and constructing a new synthetic turf baseball and softball field. Sifferman said the new field was added to the project list because the existing baseball fields are currently under water a lot of the time.

"Right now we have a head coach for both of those programs that will put in their own time to come and get water off the field in order to allow their kids to be able to play,GÇ¥ Sifferman said. "Last year was amazing. I didn't count how many hours our head coach was pulling water off the field, and maintenance also helped as well.GÇ¥

The gym addition added a total of $7 million to the bond, and was added out of necessity. The gym is a classroom, Sifferman said, and an important one. With only one gym, physical education classes periodically get ousted throughout the year for things like testing and blood drives. Murphy added they lost use of the gym eight days per semester last year.

The bond was a compromise to those that worked on it, but to Sultan School District voters, it fell short.

Sultan Planning Board member Lucy Hitchcock asked why the district is not collecting impact fees, if it has needs that are not being addressed. School impact fees are collected by cities when new residential development occurs, as a way to accommodate growth in the school district. Developers typically pay the impact fees at the time of permitting, along with fees for parks and roads.

Impact fees can only be used to increase school district capacity, and must be returned by the payee if not utilized within 10 years, unless there are "extraordinary and compelling reasons.GÇ¥

"What that money allows us to do is essentially buy portables, which we have done,GÇ¥ Chaplik said.

A few years ago the district stopped collecting impact fees, he said, because of the recession and the fact there was very little new construction.

"It does no good for us to collect impact fees when you have one or two building permits coming through per year,GÇ¥ Chaplik said.

Currently, the district is going through the process of reinstating impact fees, but the process is slow, labor-intensive and must be coordinated through Snohomish County. They hope to have them back in place by early 2017.-á

Sky Valley Chamber of Commerce Director Debbie Copple served on the Bond Planning Committee and is the president of the Sultan Education Foundation, a volunteer nonprofit that has provided classroom grants and student scholarships to Sultan School District students since 1993. Copple said she felt the bond was "too much, too soon,GÇ¥ and was presented without sufficient conversation with the voters. She acknowledged they did a poor job communicating, and that was a big mistake.

"I've worked on every one of these bonds and levies since 1986, and every single time it's been the same thing; we can't afford it, so we kick the can down the road,GÇ¥ Copple said. "Then we go back, they strip it down, we get less than what we really need and we pay more. Every single time.GÇ¥

Chaplik told attendees he planned to address the school board on Monday, Feb. 22, with some suggestions on how to move forward. He hopes to implement a broader committee, with more participation from residents not directly affiliated with the district, and said he plans to encourage the board to move forward with care.

Running a capital levy instead of a bond would be one option, he said.

For more information on how to be involved in the next phase of the process, please contact Bond Planning Committee volunteer chairwoman Ann Marie Bunch at ambunch@frontier.com.