The District has an overcrowding problem that it created. Voters approved bonds in 1998 and 2006 to update and enlarge schools, but instead the District initiated a program to replace all schools.
Twain, Mann, Thoreau, Juanita, Sandburg, Rose Hill, Lakeview, Franklin, Frost, Muir, Rush, Keller, Kirk, Bell, Redmond Middle, Rose Hill Middle, Finn Hill Middle, ICS, Kirkland Middle, Redmond High and Lake Washington High School - all were torn down and rebuilt. The beautiful new schools were 50% larger, but with the same number of classrooms and no increase in capacity. Most schools were overcrowded when they opened and needed portables. After 20 years of continuous school construction, we still don't have the adequate capacity that we should in the District.
The District's enrollment-forecasting model has consistently underestimated the 5-year student population growth rate by 40-70%. The Growth Management Act and city planning policies mandated higher density that generated increased enrollment, but the District never incorporated this into their planning.
For the money being spent, this levy builds very little classroom space, with almost all of it in Kirkland. Voting for this levy endorses the District's broken, irresponsible facilities planning practices that created the overcrowding crisis.