Local schools gain bond support

Central Valley School District’s bond continued to gain support Wednesday, reinforcing the success of its campaign and its community support.

With more than 64 percent approval, the measure has passed, according to results released by the Spokane County Elections office on Wednesday.

Kim Pearman-Gillman, co-chair of Central Valley Citizens for Education, thinks the bond’s passage has to do with its intense efforts to educate a wide swath of the community.

“For us, our focus on this was this bond is for everybody,” Pearman-Gillman said. “We did a lot of intense doorbelling. We did a lot of sign waving. I think we hit every area.”

School districts throughout Spokane County fared well in Tuesday’s election. Of the 21 school tax proposals on the ballot, 18 passed, including all proposed levies.

A precinct map of the Central Valley district shows that more than 70 percent of voters in Liberty Lake approved the measure. More than 60 percent of voters in most areas southeast of Sprague Avenue and University Road in Spokane Valley voted yes. Approval dropped below 60 percent in Spokane Valley in most areas north of Sprague, and below 50 percent in the rural areas south of the city.

Pearman-Gilman couldn’t pinpoint why certain areas were more or less supportive than others.

“We tried to meet everyone wherever we could and get the message out,” she said.

The only measures that failed in Tuesday’s vote were bonds proposed in the Cheney, Nine Mile Falls and Orchard Prairie school districts.

“Reaching 60 percent is a high bar,” said Sean Dotson, Cheney School District associate superintendent. “If we don’t pass it, we will have to continue to reach out and educate about the need.”

Cheney’s bond had a 57 percent approval rate as of Wednesday. The election will be certified on Feb. 24.

Nine Mile Falls’ bond has only 51 percent voter approval. The bulk of the bond proposal would have paid for major renovations to the district’s high school, primarily to make it safer.

“We will have to sit down with the board and the community,” Superintendent Brian Talbott said. “We aren’t going to change our proposal. That’s something the board wanted. I think we need to do a better job of communicating the need for a safer high school.”

Talbott is not sure when the district will put the bond on the ballot again. Meanwhile, he’s grateful about the district’s levy passing.

“We feel really good about the levy,” he said. “It’s our life blood.”

Tax increases included in Cheney and Nine Mile Falls bond proposals may have contributed to the measures failing. Voters in the Mead, Spokane and Central Valley school districts approved bond measures that didn’t increase tax rates.

Cheney’s bond would cost 75 cents more per $1,000 of property value. The existing bond is $1.86 per $1,000.

“I think the community is always conscious of anything that includes a tax increase,” Dotson said. “When that is the case, people just need to understand really well why it’s important.”

Talbott said the bond failure is about taxes, not kids.

“We have a proud community,” Talbott said. “We know they support kids.”