Central Valley voters OK region’s first new high school since 1997

Spokane Valley will get a new high school.

With most of the vote counted Tuesday night, some 70 percent of voters approved a $129.9 million bond that will add the region’s first new high school since Mt. Spokane High School was built in 1997.

The bond required more than 60 percent of voters to approve the measure.

The district will become the second district in Spokane County to have at least three traditional high schools.

“This is a big win for the students … as we meet the needs of a growing community and a growing school district,” Superintendent Ben Small said. “We’ve got lots of great work to make sure we establish this new high school in an appropriate way.”

Voters approved the massive building project, which also will add a middle school at Telido Station, just north of the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake, only three years after the school district approved a $121.9 million bond in 2015.

Also included in the measure is the renovation of Horizon Middle School and upgrades to the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems in the Broadway, Progress and University elementary schools and at Summit School.

“Our plan is to get moving on the new middle school this spring,” Small said. “We’ll design the high school through this year and would be in construction in the summer of 2019.”

The high school will be built on ground the school district bought in 1980 at 16th Avenue and Henry Road in the Saltese area. School officials have not yet named the school.

In addition to the bonds, 70 percent of Central Valley voters also approved a new levy rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property values, just like several other school districts in the region.

Unlike the bonds, the levy, which pays for personnel and programs, required only majority support for approval.