The Enumclaw School District has released a new Bond Feedback Survey to collect more information about if, or how, another bond should be introduced to voters.
The district’s last bond attempt was for $253 million in order to fund two new elementary schools, a new high school performing arts center, and a new sports stadium.
The measure failed spectacularly, with nearly 75% of the district’s voters rejecting the bond during the February special election — the widest pass/fail margin for any proposed bond in ESD’s history.
But when the district was still deciding how large of a bond to put on the ballot, it appeared public support was in favor of funding the most expansive option.
The new survey can be found online at enumclaw.wednet.edu/article/1082511.
It is 13 questions long, ranging from what school respondents live closest by to opinions on what the most important factor(s) the district should keep in mid for drafting future bonds (minimizing tax increases, contingencies for increased costs, additional community input period, etc.).
The district hopes to use the data it collects to “to help inform future decisions related to capital projects in our district.”
THE PREVIOUS PROCESS
At the start of the bond process last summer, the school district laid out three scenarios.
Scenario 1 was billed as only the “essentials” — a new Byron Kibler Elementary in Enumclaw, a new Ten Trails Elementary in Black Diamond, and various upgrades and repairs to other district buildings. Estimates for this project came in at about $181 million.
Scenario 2 was a little more expansive — all of the above, plus the new high school performing arts center. That raised the bond estimate to about $221 million.
Finally, Scenario 3 was the “kitchen sink” — all of the above, plus a new sports stadium, for the estimated $253 million.
ESD had both an online “Thought Exchange” session, where community members could voice their anonymous opinions on the bond options, and in-person polls at public and school sports events.
The Thought Exchange session brought in a total of 287 opinions, with the plurality (70) supporting Scenario 3. Coming in second (50) were residents voicing they would vote against a bond, and Scenario 1 came in with the third-most (40) positive mentions. Other opinions included support of Scenario 2 and those that didn’t express support for any bond scenario, but instead voiced concern over matters the bond should address, like additional security or how growth should pay for growth.
According to Superintendent Shaun Carey, about 478 opinions were gathered in person; 382 residents said they would support Scenario 3, while only 51 people said they’d support Scenario 2, and 45 were for Scenario 1.
Despite more than 750 possible unique opinions gathered for the last bond effort, that’s only a fraction of ESD’s voter population, which includes Enumclaw, the ever-growing Black Diamond, and a wide swath of unincorporated King County, and it’s clear that the information the district gathered wasn’t representative of the whole.
