Ballots for schools’ bond, levy measures mailed Jan. 22

Series looks at proposals, structural issues

By Matthew Nash • January 7, 2025 1:30 am
Image courtesy Sequim School District/ A conceptual layout from Sequim School District’s main campus shows where the proposed $145.95 million bond could move facilities, such as a new building for Helen Haller Elementary behind its existing facility, and an enclosed Sequim High School campus. District staff said no design elements have been set, and they need to pass the bond before anything is determined.
Image courtesy Sequim School District/ A conceptual layout from Sequim School District’s main campus shows where the proposed $145.95 million bond could move facilities, such as a new building for Helen Haller Elementary behind its existing facility, and an enclosed Sequim High School campus. District staff said no design elements have been set, and they need to pass the bond before anything is determined.

Ballots go out Jan. 22 to Sequim School District voters to determine if they want to fund both a new construction bond and renew an educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy in a Feb. 11 special election.

Sequim School District’s leaders voted to bring the resolutions to residents in December with the bond attempt the first for the district since a string of four failed attempts, with the last in Feb. 2016 for $54 million falling short (57.4%) of the required supermajority 60% plus one vote to pass.

Discussions

Superintendent Regan Nickels and district officials will discuss the proposals in a series of presentations and tours open to the public through January.

The first is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 8) via Zoom: https://sequimschools.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkduCorTssGtL9uMgBzZqt28RHwuHrRIUh.

Additional meetings will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 in the District Office Board Room, 503 N. Sequim Ave.; 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 in the Sequim High School Library, 601 N. Sequim Ave., and 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28 and 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 30, both in the District Office Board Room.

Nickels said she also has several community gatherings at which she’s planned to speak.

District officials will open up applications in early February for a bond oversight committee for community members to be a part of the process and keep it accountable, Nickels said.

It will convene if the bond is passed.

What’s proposed

For the bond proposal, the district’s board of directors accepted recommendations from a 13-member Long Range Facilities Planning Group (LRFPG) that collaborated with experts to evaluate schools’ structural integrity, safety and functionality to prioritize repairs and/or upgrades.

Nickels said the approximate $145,950,000 bond will bring improvements to each district school, such as safety upgrades.

The bond proposes to:

• Replace Helen Haller Elementary School with a new building

• Build new instructional wings at Sequim High School to connect to remaining buildings

• Add a cafeteria at Greywolf Elementary School, update the bus loop and parking lot, and upgrade heating, ventilation and air condition (HVAC)

• Upgrade athletic field and facilities at the stadium with new surfacing, expand the track, and make bleachers, bathrooms, etc., compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act

• Improve or replace the Transportation Center

• Create a new bus loop through the school district’s main campus

For the four-year, approximate $36.2 million EP&O levy renewal, district staff said it helps fund teacher and staffing levels, extracurricular activities and athletics, library, music, counseling, nursing, transportation and more.

Nickels previously said the district receives about 17% of its funding from local sources, such as the EP&O levy. It would require a simple majority to pass (50% plus one).

Costs

The total proposed bond amount comes to $151,150,000, and the school district will receive $5.2 million from the State Construction Assistance Program (SCAP) due to Helen Haller Elementary’s age to reduce the total to $145,950,000.

District staff said the new proposals’ combined rate with the 20-year bond ($0.91) and four-year levy rate ($0.94) would come to $1.85 per $1,000 assessed value per year of a property. That’s for residents in the school district from R Corner to the west, to Gardiner in the east, and Olympic National Park to the south.

They said the bond amount was determined through state and federal standards according to the district’s enrollment numbers and square footage standards per student.

With updated assessed property values at the end of 2024, district staff said the increase for a homeowner with a $340,000 assessed value would be $190.40 more a year, or $15.87 a month, starting in 2026. If a home is worth $481,000, it would cost $269.36 more a year for a homeowner, or $22.44 a month, staff estimate.

They said Sequim residents pay less in taxes for schools than about 80% of other districts in the state (ranked 236 out of 295) according to 2023 data, and the $1.85 rate is less than Port Angeles School District which passed a construction bond and levy renewal measures in November with a rate of about $2.70 per $1,000 assessed property value.

Design

Asked about preventative maintenance, Nickels said, “You’ve got to face we have such aged facilities.”

“You can’t change the oil forever,” said Mike Santos, Sequim School District’s director of Facilities, Operations, and Security. “Eventually the car is going to break.”

Helen Haller Elementary dates back to the 1970s, the high school’s five, four-room pods A-E were built more than 50 years ago, and the oldest portion of the Transportation Center was built in 1967.

Santos said it would cost 1.8 times more to renovate than build a new high school and 1.6 times more for Helen Haller Elementary.

“That number is going to continue to go up,” he said.

Santos said a simple repair project elsewhere costs exponentially more at the school buildings because equipment and wiring are so outdated, for asbestos abatement and to bring things up to code.

As for the conceptual design of how/where the buildings and bus loops will go, district staff said those are all a work in progress.

“Everything is preliminary,” Nickels said.

“School districts don’t have any money for design until a bond passes.”

She said decisions on whether the athletic field is turf or grass, if Helen Haller will be two stories, and other design elements are all to be determined.

“We have not convened any level of design group,” Nickels said. “We’ll seek input from different stakeholder groups, including staff.”

Through the bond process, the district was provided conceptual layouts by its consultant to help officials plan for needed square footage, Nickels said.

“Design will convene upon passage of the bond when the resources are available to do so and engineering and architectural partners are hired,” she said.

Voters last approved a construction bond in Feb. 1996 for $25 million to build Sequim Middle School (opened in 1998) and with new classrooms (H-building) and a playfield at Sequim High School.

Sequim’s EP&O levies passed in their last five attempts.

Sequim’s $29.7 million four-year EP&O levy and an $18 million capital projects levy expire this year and were approved by voters in 2021.

The capital projects levy has paid for numerous items, such as roof replacement, HVAC system replacements, fire alarm and sprinkler system replacements, refurbishing the district stadium’s track and high school’s gym floor, and upgrades to the district’s technology infrastructure.

For more information about Sequim School District, visit sequimschools.org.

Note: Matthew Nash has family employed and enrolled in Sequim School District.