Cast a vote against bloated school bond | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 9:54 am Sunday, February 7, 2016

To the editor:

Having run math clubs in the public schools the last five years, I would love to be out campaigning for a great new building. However, having spent the last six months requesting and reviewing public records on the proposed construction, I can find only one word to describe the excess cost:  “bloat.”

This proposal is simply lugging around too much weight. Let’s do the numbers:

At $82 million, this bond levy will be five times the size of the police proposal we just voted down.

The new Blakely will cost more than $103,000 per student, compared to $65,000 per student in Issaquah schools benchmarked as comparable by our district.

The new Blakely will provide space for 450 students, even though only 375 go there now, and that attendance is down 10 percent from just five years ago.

The bloat in Blakely adds up to $19 million. If there is comparable excess in the 100 Building plans, total unnecessary spending could top $30 million.

The bond will double current school capital debt. The master plan calls for more spending that will eventually triple the debt, to more than a quarter of a billion dollars.

The district hasn’t sharpened its pencil, and we need to send this back as bad homework. The district has 10 months before the general election later this year to revise it. To get this revised, however, we need to vote “no” now against bloat.

ROD STEVENS

Bainbridge Island