By Bainbridge Island School District board member Mary Curtis

Directors of the Bainbridge Island School District ask themselves the same three questions all island residents ask when a bond measure comes to a vote: Is the need really there? How are we going to pay for it? Does it benefit our community?

Answering these questions took hours of research, discussion, and debate as we considered the challenges and the opportunities facing school construction in these tough economic times. All five of us were unanimous in our decision to put a $42 million capital facilities bond on the May 19 ballot. Here’s why.

What needs to be done? Wilkes Elementary School needs to be rebuilt and other school buildings throughout the district need critical renovations. We must ask our community for help with these projects because the state provides virtually no funding for facility construction or conservation.

The proposed bond allocates $9 million for large-scale maintenance projects to our existing school buildings. Funds will be used to replace or repair worn out roofs and infrastructure, projects that will preserve and protect the investment our community has made in our schools.

One million dollars has been set aside specifically for energy saving and “green” renovations that will benefit the health of our children and our environment – while saving thousands of operating dollars.

Why rebuild and not renovate Wilkes? The board took a long, hard look at this question. Wilkes is a cluster of hastily constructed buildings that fit a 1950s educational model. The brick facade may look pretty good, but the walls conceal failing systems and extensive infrastructure problems. These problems are so severe that independent analyses by industry professionals tell us the cost of renovation would be 94 percent of the $32 million cost of a new building.

Renovation costs are high because once walls are opened, all building systems must be updated to meet current building codes. A renovation of this scale precludes using the building during construction. With no room to house students elsewhere in the District, setting up an alternative school site would add significantly to the cost.

If we replace Wilkes, our children can stay in the existing building until we construct a new building on adjacent property. If we renovate Wilkes, we squander dollars and an opportunity to build a school that meets the educational needs of students in the 21st century.

How will we pay for this bond? As elected officials, one of our challenges is to preserve and protect the long-term health of our school buildings – without overburdening taxpayers.

By using the district’s 15-year Facilities Master Plan as a roadmap, we can spread out our requests for construction funds over time. When we sell new bonds as old bonds are being paid down, our school construction taxes can be kept stable while vital facility work gets done.

The district’s financial consultants project that the dollar amount of the total bond debt service (including this 2009 bond) will be slightly lower in 2010 than 2009. This means that homeowners with an average valued home are not expected to pay more school construction taxes in 2010 than they will this year. Our projection model shows the total annual of debt service will remain fairly constant over at least the next five years. Beyond that, other factors – such as population growth – begin to affect the equation.”

Does the bond benefit our community? Good schools and quality educational programs create a vibrant community. The quality of our schools draws new families seeking the best in public education for their children, and those families bring diversity, youth, and vitality to our community.

With no real change in taxes for the average homeowner, Bainbridge citizens can make an investment that will serve students and this community for at least another 50 years. The return on that investment will never be better because materials and labor cost less than we could have imagined a year ago – offering a window of opportunity that will close rapidly as the economy begins to recover.

As a community, we can seize this opportunity to invest in our shared value of education and in our collective future.

Approved by BI School District board members Mary Curtis, Patty Fielding, Mike Foley, Dave Pollock and John Tawresey.