Deer Park and Riverside’s school levies failed. Now what?

As Spokane Public Schools and Spokane Parks rejoiced over the passing of their $200 million bond, some school districts north of the Lilac City are now tasked with finding innovative solutions after their levies failed.

Riverside School District proposed a five-year, $18 million capital levy aimed at addressing security, technology and HVAC issues. This levy was supposed to handle only the most basic and urgent needs of the school district, such as the heating and cooling system that, during the summer, caused a few classrooms at Riverside High School to reach upwards of 85 degrees.

Of the $18 million prescribed for the levy, $16 million was devoted to the HVAC system.

In January, the district will conduct an analysis of the failed capital levy to determine why it failed through focus groups and discussions within the community.

“Just trying to listen and learn what were the root causes of the failure, and what can we learn from that, and how does that inform our efforts going forward,” said Ken Russell, the superintendent for the Riverside School District, on the upcoming analysis.

Increased property value, a growing concern around taxes and the current state of the economy were the possible reasons Russell highlighted as to why the levy failed. But he said nothing is conclusive until the analysis is completed.

Riverside has applied for a handful of state and federal grants.

So far, only one grant worth $30,000 for a breakfast program at Chattaroy Elementary has been approved. Russell said Riverside has around half a million dollars in savings to address only the most pressing HVAC needs. They hope to save some money going into next year’s budget and then slowly chip away at making improvements.

“If you can combine your savings with some grants, there’s no way it’s going to come even close to the $16 million that we were asking for in the capital levy (for the HVAC),” Russell said. “But at the same time, at least you can make some progress, and you can continue to try to serve kids well and provide high-quality learning environments.”

The Riverside School District can’t apply for many grants because they sit barely above the threshold for grants applicable to small rural districts. Because Riverside has about 1,500 students across the district, Russell said, they fall below the grants smaller schools can receive when they have 1,000 students or less.

Riverside isn’t the only district north of Spokane that had a capital levy fail and is now look ing at alternatives. Deer Park School District, which had a $14.6 million capital levy on the November ballot, is also hosting a January meeting with its facility advisory committee to determine next best steps.

If Deer Park’s capital levy had passed, they would have divided $300,000 for districtwide safety upgrades, $1.8 million for Arcadia Elementary’s roof and HVAC system, $5 million for purchasing land, and another $7.5 million towards replacing a nearly 100-year-old bus barn that once served as a lumber mill.

“The board has identified, as a collective, to really focus on safety and security,” said Alexa Allman, the superintendent of the Deer Park School District.

Allman said the district has applied for a couple of grants focused on safety and security, specifically for Arcadia Elementary School. Much like Riverside, Deer Park is too large to qualify for the small school modernization grants.

In 2024, a 27-year, $55 million bond failed that would have paid for a new transportation facility and the creation of a new elementary school building to accommodate the growing city of Deer Park. A bond requires a 60% supermajority to pass, and since that one barely was rejected, the district pivoted to the shorter-term, more affordable $14.6 million capital levy, which also failed.

“In terms of looking toward the future, Arcadia Elementary is, and continues to be, out of space,” Allman said. “That’s why we ran the bond the first two times. That has not changed. They are still out of space. They continue to be out of space, and as Deer Park continues to add more housing, more development and we continue to grow, I don’t anticipate that changing.”

She said the district has been in conversation with the Deer Park Parks and Recreation Task Force to see if they can’t join forces on a bond package, something similar to what “Together Spokane” did, that would serve all members of the community.

Allman and Russell theorize that their respective levies failed for similar reasons. Russell said it wasn’t a lack of care or rebuke against the district itself that led to the failure of the levy, but rather an uneasiness over the state of the economy, property taxes and the rising cost of living.

As for the future, both superintendents said they must wait for their committees to assess the situation and decide the next best move. Despite the apparent lack of funds for key educational projects, the pair said their districts remain committed to providing productive and nourishing learning environments.

“It’s just saving over time and being fiscally conservative with our expenditures throughout the year,” Allman said. “Then, the facilities advisory committee is going to have to look for the big, big-ticket projects, where we want to go, what we want to prioritize and how we want to proceed.”