Spokane Public Schools $200 million bond will appear on November ballots

After being teased for months, Spokane Public Schools’ $200 million bond is now bound for ballots in November.

The school board Wednesday night officially weighed in on the measure that the district had already begun to campaign for alongside the city parks department, seeking a tax levy. The board’s five members unanimously and emphatically supported the property tax measure.

“Spokane can do this for Spokane,” SPS Board President Nikki Otero Lockwood said. “I strongly support this.”

The bond would be paid off over 20 years. On this particular tax proposal, taxpayers would pay roughly 6 to 31 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to pay off the bond, depending on the year, estimated Cindy Coleman, chief finance and business services officer for Spokane Public Schools, in an interview earlier this year.

Because the district intends to pay off previous bond measures, taxpayers would see their bill increase by 2 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value. Under the district’s estimates, the owner of a $400,000 property would pay about $8 more a year.

“Every single neighborhood gets some level of investment to try to get to that value proposition where people can say, ‘Is this worth the investment for our school bond?’ ” Superintendent Adam Swinyard said on Tuesday.

The bond will appear on ballots next to a separate proposal from the city parks department, proposing a $240 million tax levy to collect a rate of 27 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.

Though voters are to weigh in on each measure individually, the two entities have campaigned their proposals alongside each other in a partnership that promises monies will be used in every park and every school in the district, alongside an $11 million contribution from outside entities.

The proposal is extensive, although some of the most expensive projects include the replacement of some of the oldest schools in the district: Adams and Madison elementaries and North Central High School. The two elementary schools would be replaced with buildings serving multiple functions, including schooling.

“This really continues the school district’s long-range plan to slowly and steadily replace our oldest schools,” Senior Advisor Mark Anderson told the board.

The bond would also fund renovations of a Spokane Community College building for a new trades-focused high school.

Funds would also be used to renovate a “mothballed” pool Spokane Community College plans to offload to the school district that will offer swimming lessons for students and swimming as a school sport in the future.

“The other thing the bond does, though, it funds capital needed improvements in all 66 of our facilities: 58 schools and the ancillary facilities we have,” Anderson told the board. “Everything, from we need to roof, to the air system isn’t working and we need a new air system, to painting the building, those kinds of things to keep our buildings up and last longer before we have to replace them.”

As the board approved sending the bond to ballots, its members reminisced on the failed attempt in February 2024. At the time, the district struggled to grapple with its loss, “a tough pill to swallow,” board member Hilary Kozel said. Now, board members said that gave way for this partnered proposal: “a blessing in disguise,” Board Vice President Mike Wiser said.

“The level of partnerships that have gone into this one is going to take that investment and really just multiply the impact to our students and our community members, too,” Wiser said.