The power to improve the Enumclaw School District is now in your hands.

I mean that very, very literally.

By this point, you should have received your April 22 special election ballot; on it is ESD’s Prop No. 1, which proposes an additional 37 cent property tax levy per $1,000 in assessed property value.

I’ve been reporting on this levy for months – and the structural issues at ESD facilities for what seems like years now.

The 70 year-old Byron Kibler Elementary is of particular interest to me because, barring unforeseen circumstances, my son Brendan will be attending school there in a little more than a year.

I walk past that school often, and I was given a tour when the school district put out a bond measure a couple years ago.

It’s in awful shape, and I imagine it’s hard to teach – and even more difficult to learn – when your building is sometimes literally crumbling around you.

When I talked to administration and staff, leaks were a common topic.

I saw evidence of water damage all around me, from stained ceiling tiles and drippy trails down the walls; it seemed every teacher had a personal story, from student artwork getting soggy to whole class copies of books getting damp.

“One time, last year, there were 17 buckets in the hall,” one said in 2023.

According to the district, there’s an average of two leaks in the building every time it rains because its single-ply roof has exceeded its lifespan. This results in a revolving door of contractors and roofers when the weather permits patches and repairs – and buckets in the hall until then.

The levy will pay for a resurfacing with a ten-year warranty.

Heating and cooling is also a huge issue – and there’s very little the district can do about that, because the school’s HVAC system was designed to be open to the elements in order to operate.

Why is that? I’m no engineer or HVAC historian, but it seems air conditioning large buildings like this was first starting to become more common in the 1950s – around when Kibler was built. My best guess is, this was just the way they were made then.

Can you think of anything made in the 1950s that we should continue using in a school? I sure can’t.

Unfortunately, this school levy won’t address this issue – the only way to install a better HVAC system is to build a new school – but the levy will fund the replacement of the 2000-era boiler pump which, at least, will help keep the school warmer on blustery and snowy days. Then the district won’t have to tell families to bundle their kids up when the boiler goes out in the winter, like it had to early last February.

There’s also a lighting issue. This wasn’t something I was aware of when I walked through the school last, but the district needs to replace its current light fixtures because Washington state is banning the sale of the bulbs these fixtures use – even existing stock – by 2029.

It’s hard to learn in the dark.

The school will also get new kitchen and cleaning equipment, as well as a modern electronic access security system. Our kids deserve good food and to be safe at school.

These projects alone would convince me to support a levy; no student should have to learn in a dilapidated environment like Kibler.

But Brendan won’t just stay in Kibler – eventually, he’ll go to Thunder Mountain Middle School, which needs new water heaters, and Enumclaw High, which needs a new HVAC system, roofing, and auditorium boilers and pumps. All of these projects, and more, will be funded by this new levy, which, based on my property value, will cost me less than $15 a month for four years.

I’m very happy to keep my belt a little tighter a little longer, if that means my kid’s schools stays warm and well-lit; that sort of money is very well spent, indeed.

And I urge you to do the same for all the children in our community.