Spokane School and Parks Measures

Spokane voters in early returns Tuesday mirrored national trends in their support for left-leaning politics and demonstrated an appetite for more taxes in spite of economic uncertainty.

Two cents.

Among the 200-plus projects that would be addressed in Spokane Public Schools’ $200 million bond and city parks’ $240 million levy is the replacement of the city’s second oldest public school still in use.

Though it’s officially named “North Central High School,” some school officials dubbed the patchwork school “the SeaTac project that’s never-ending,” or “A Tale of Two Cities,” for the piecemeal updates made over the years.

Spokane public school students may in coming years have the opportunity to spend their entire four years learning how to weld sheet metal or suture a laceration instead of studying Shakespeare, which school officials believe will in many cases better meet their personal learning needs and fast track them into a well-paying career out of school.

After 15 years of work, the Spokane Youth Sports Association is abandoning its proposal to build a sports complex on the Glenrose Prairie.

“Together Spokane” is hitting the road.

Free swim lessons for every Spokane second-grader; a space for high school swim teams to practice year-round; more capacity to teach special needs kids the skills that may one day save their life; a place for the public to swim in the middle of winter without paying some club’s monthly fees.

Lewis and Clark High School boys tennis coach Scott Wortley knows what it’s like to grow up without the tools to practice your favorite sport.