More Students Require More Schools! Vote Yes for the Lake Washington School Bond!

The February 2014 school bond measure almost passed, short just 2%. But Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish are still growing. Today, we already have 800 new students and that’s only the beginning. By 2020, we expect 4,000 more students to enroll in our schools! As a practical first step to avoid district-wide overcrowding, LWSD rescaled the measure to address the most urgent education needs first. Those steps include building new schools, building additions to others and rebuilding an ageing and inadequate Juanita High School. A bond measure is the only way LWSD can raise the bulk of the funds to build new schools. Without this measure, the district will be forced to resort to one or more undesirable steps to educate all our children, such as eliminating all-day Kindergarten, adding even more portables to school grounds, redrawing neighborhood school boundaries and bussing children throughout the district or double-shifting--sending K-12 students to school for either a morning or afternoon full day shift.

Get the facts about cost, student enrollment growth and school construction timelines at www.lwsd.org. To see endorsers and contributors for this measure, visit www.vote4lwsdkids.org.

We support quality schools for all of our students and teachers.  We oppose this bond because it still buries us in debt, while building palaces for some, and others remain in portables and substandard buildings. With no public notice, LWSD chose to divide the bond rejected by voters – this to pass now, the rest later.  No change in size or cost of  projects, no correction of their teardown versus remodel  philosophy, no public hearings, no input from independent  architects or builders, and no attempt to build community  consensus around an affordable option.

Voters deserve better. Monroe’s new high school cost less than half what LWSD spends, inflation adjusted.  LWSD designs are so expansive they don’t qualify for matching state funds.  The district still plans to tear down schools newer than many of our homes, including Juanita High, designed to be easily reconfigured for decades to come.

Claiming a low teaser rate, the district doesn’t disclose the sharp rise in taxes as bonds are issued, and they certainly don’t mention their plan to pass the postponed portion, raising bond debt to the $755  million voters just rejected.

Fact check at www.Not-1.com

Reject Prop. 1.  

LWSD is at capacity. This bond, not more portables, is LWSD’s student enrollment growth management strategy. Public input supported a lower-cost, phased-in approach. Bussing children to school at 6 a.m. does not improve community value. Neither does building classrooms that don’t meet LWSD’s education standard. As an example Monroe High School was built 15 years ago for grades 10-12 and stands incomplete. This citizen committee wants environmentally sound buildings that meet education standards. Vote Yes!

Submitted by: Susan D. Baird-Joshi, Kerri N. Nielsen, and Matt Loschen

www.vote4lwsdkids.org

This is no "practical first step", just half the schools at half the cost.

Still too expensive - adding $450/year on $500,000 home's taxes, on top of $660/year for existing school bonds, and much more when the postponed portion is added.

It overspends 42% rebuilding Juanita High. Remodeling instead of rebuilding would fund other schools.

Other districts build quality classrooms at half the dollars per student.

LWSD can, they just haven't.  Reject Proposition 1.

Submitted by: Mike Nykreim and Steven Swedenburg

www.Not-1.com

Download the full text of the resolution

60% yes vote and a minimum turnout of 18,503 (Washington Constitution, article VII, section 2(b))