Legislative effort could help South Bend

Chauncey Davis Elementary, 1951.  South Bend School District, Pacific County

About 10 years ago SB voters passed an approximate $1.7 million dollar bond that renovated South Bend High School and provided some minor improvements to Chauncey Davis Elementary classrooms.  Voters passed the bond by a (just under) 75% YES vote.  When this bond is paid off in 2020, Chauncey Davis Elementary will be nearly 70 years old--built in 1951.

South Bend School District has done an incredible job maintaining this building, but the bones are old.  The building age, the wearing infrastructure, and the fact it sits under the floodplain spell out the need for a new building.

Chauncey Davis boiler room flooding during the January 2015 flood

State Law Prevents Construction of New Elementary School

Even if voters wanted to approve a bond to construct a new elementary school, they couldn't.  RCW 39.36.020 limits the amount of debt a school district can hold to 5% of total assessed values.  For South Bend, this amount would cover just over half the costs of a new building needed for 324+ students in grades K-6.  As an additional problem, state matching funds are not enough to bridge the gap.

We are not alone, this is a common problem in many small, rural communities with low property values.

Seeking a Solution

I believe voters should at least be afforded the option of deciding to build a school for their community's children.  So, I have been working with legislative staff in Olympia in an attempt to better understand our situation.  This process, in conjunction with other capital budget work, has led to a bill introduced this legislative session sponsored by Senators Honeyford (15th dist) and Frockt (46th dist).  SB 5453 would establish "school construction assistance grants for small, rural school districts."

Senator Takko, Rep. Blake & Rep. Walsh work together to help

When I heard SB 5453 was introduced in the senate, I contacted Rep. Blake and Rep. Walsh to ask if they would draft a companion bill in the house.  Understanding the importance of this need for many small/rural schools, they immediately moved to draft a bill.  Last week, HB 1923 was introduced in the house by Rep. Blake, Rep. Walsh, and Rep. Kirby of the 29th district.  Sen. Takko is also communicating the importance of this bill in the senate.  Both bills have bipartisan support.

What can the public do?

These bills could prove to have beneficial impact for small, rural school districts with less than 1,000 students.  Certainly, if these bills came to fruition, South Bend could benefit greatly.  But so could many other small districts.  In our case, a grant through this program would be the only way our community could replace our 70 year old building.

When citizens have civic concerns, we have the ability to contact our elected representatives.  For those interested, a short list of legislators with interest in these bills is provided below:

Senator Jim Honeyford (R):  Jim.Honeyford@leg.wa.gov
Senator David Frockt (D):  David.Frockt@leg.wa.gov
Senator Dean Takko (D):  Dean.Takko@leg.wa.gov

Rep. Steve Tharinger (D):  Steve.Tharinger@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Richard DeBolt (R):  Richard.DeBolt@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Brian Blake (D):  Brian.Blake@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Jim Walsh (R):  Jim.Walsh@leg.wa.gov
Rep. Steve Kirby (D):  Steve.Kirby@leg.wa.gov

Legislators value constituent input and ideas.  As we teach our students, it is important for us to express our viewpoints to our government officials and elected representatives.



Anyone with questions, comments, or ideas concerning this article, or anything related to South Bend School District can contact Jon Tienhaara, superintendent, at jtienhaa@southbendschools.org