Battle Ground Public Schools is asking voters to approve an $80 million bond to make long-overdue renovations, replace four schools and build two new ones in the growing district.
The north Clark County school district plans to do $136.5 million worth of work in the first phase of its long-term facilities plan. The bond, which could run for an estimated 20 years, will cover most of those expenses, with a matching $56.5 million from the state.
And the way district officials tell it, that work is long overdue.
Superintendent Mark Hottowe said he hopes that when district voters consider the matter on their Nov. 8 general election ballot, they “ask themselves what they want for the children of our community.”
“It’s my position … that I want to be the premiere district in Southwest Washington,” he said. “It is difficult to do that when your facilities don’t accommodate the issues and needs that come along with 21st century learning.”
Information sessions
Battle Ground Public Schools will host a series of public information sessions to provide details and answer questions about Proposition 1, the district’s school construction and renovation bond.
All sessions begin at
6 p.m.
They are:
• Oct. 11 at Amboy Middle School.
• Oct. 13 at Prairie High School.
• Oct. 18 at Battle Ground High School.
• Oct. 20 at Glenwood Heights Primary School.
The bond will be on the Nov. 8 ballot. Ballots for this year’s General Election will be mailed Oct. 19.
The bond is expected to cost property owners 45 cents per $1,000 in assessed value per year. That means for a home valued at $300,000, the projected tax increase is $11.25 a month, or $135 per year.
The additional bond rate will add to the current bond rate of 81 cents per $1,000 assessed value, for a total annual bond rate of about $1.26. Including the current levy rate of $3.66, taxpayers in Battle Ground can expect a projected total tax rate of $4.93 per $1,000 in assessed value.
The bond will pay to rebuild Glenwood Heights Primary, Laurin Middle, and Pleasant Valley Primary and Middle Schools. It will also cover the construction of a new kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school and a new fifth-through-eighth-grade school in the southeast corner of the district. There are also needed improvements for campus security and technology, including upgraded school entrances with card readers, better classrooms for science and technology programs at middle schools, improved career and technical education classrooms, and additional perimeter fencing at Prairie High School.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reported district enrollment at 13,477 students last May. Current schools are not able to handle that level of enrollment, officials say, with some classrooms exceeding state recommendations for class size by as many as 10 students.
And the district expects to add another 2,000 students over the next 10 years, as another 3,500 homes are built in the north county city.
“It’s visible,” said Mark Ross, the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning. “Drive around the Battle Ground community. There’s so much housing.”
Long-term plan
A cornerstone of this year’s bond was the district’s Facilities Improvement Team, district officials said. Rather than put together a bond in isolation, the district worked with 20 community volunteers and district staffers and solicited comment from more than 1,900 community members to develop a long-term plan for the next 18 years, Hottowe said.
Later bonds supporting that long-range plan will keep the bond rate no higher than $1.26 per $1,000 in assessed value. The result, he said, is a flat-rate bond that won’t price Battle Ground residents out of their homes while meeting the priorities and needs of the district.
“When people understand it’s coming from their representatives, I think they’ll understand what the rationale is,” he said.
That was important, given the type of development in Battle Ground, said MaryBeth Lynn, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and School Operations for the district. Most development in the city is residential, rather than large industrial buildings.
“We are committed to providing up-to-date safe and secure schools to contribute to a strong growing community while considering the financial impact on our patrons,” Lynn said.
