District will look to place new bond on ballot later this year

The six-year, $600 million Edmonds School District capital bond has failed, with just over 56% of voters supporting it, according to the latest results from the Feb. 11 special election.

A bond needs a 60% majority to pass in Washington state.

Voter turnout was a little over 31%, according to unofficial vote counts by Snohomish County Feb. 18. The overall Snohomish County turnout was 32.8%.

The bond, in addition to replacing College Place Middle School, would have replaced Oak Heights and Beverly elementary schools, and completed improvements to Spruce Elementary School.

It would have also built an additional elementary school, an additional middle school, and a new Innovative Learning Center (ILC). The ILC would host Scriber Lake High School and other learning programs.

"We thank the majority of our school district community who voted for our bond," said Andi Nofziger-Meadows, president of the Edmonds Education Association teachers union.

"The need for replacing schools and additional capacity in elementary and middle school does not go away because the bond failed, so now we will work with our community to determine the best ways to address the needs of our students and educators moving forward."

Nofziger-Meadows said the EEA will continue to work with legislators in Olympia to address the need for the state to fund capital projects or to eliminate the 60% supermajority requirement for bonds.

Voters did, however, pass a $96 million replacement technology and capital levy, 58% to 42%.

In a new release Wednesday, the school district said is working on next steps and plans to get a much-needed capital bond back out to voters later this year.

"I am so proud of our community and the focus placed on technology for our students and staff," said school board President Deborah Kilgore. "As for the capital needs in our district, the school board is already working to come back to the discussion table with our community to find a solution."

Superintendent Kristine McDuffy said she also appreciates the support from voters.

"I want to thank everyone for getting their ballots turned in for this important election for our district," she said. "We are thrilled over 58 percent of voters want us to continue the great work with our technology program. While the bond did not pass, the school board and I are working diligently on a plan to reach out to the community and see how we can move forward to address the $1.7 billion capital needs."

The district board of directors say they will not put a bond on the special ballot in April, as that does not provide enough time to discuss the capital project needs of the district with the community. The board is focusing on putting a bond on the ballot in either August or November.

Schools are funded in Washington in multiple ways: state funding, and local bonds (generally for building and operations) and levies (generally for instruction) and property taxes. Many people saw their property taxes increase in Snohomish County; Edmonds' property taxes went up by 7.7% this year. On average, taxes rose by 10.7% throughout Snohomish County for 2020.

Some have attributed the feeling of being "taxed out" to other bond failures throughout the county. Snohomish, Marysville, and Monroe school district bonds failed as well. Mukilteo was the only one on the ballot that garnered a supermajority – and it just barely reached it at 60.4%, according to Feb. 18 counts.

The official certification of the election is Feb. 21.

Mill Creek Beacon Editor Emily Gilbert contributed to this story.