Ridgefield seeks new school bond vote

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The Ridgefield School District is seeking voter approval of a construction bond for the second time this year, aiming for a smaller request of about $40.5 million to build an elementary school after a close defeat in February.

The district’s board of directors approved during its Feb. 25 meeting the placement of a construction bond on the April 28 special election ballot. The funding would allow for construction of a 72,000-square-foot elementary school building in the northeast part of the district as well as new playgrounds at the two existing elementary schools in the district featuring more accessible equipment.

The new bond run follows a close defeat of one placed on the ballot in February that featured those additions as well as a roughly 50,000-square-foot fifth- and sixth-grade intermediate school and an expansion at Ridgefield High School. The bond missed the required 60 percent passage rate by only 62 votes out of the 7,586 cast, according to certified election results.

In a letter following the February election, Ridgefield School District Superintendent Nathan McCann said it was a record turnout for the district, mentioning the number of “yes” votes — 4,490 — was higher than the 4,208 total votes for a levy for Washougal School District, which has a comparable population to Ridgefield.

McCann was grateful for the high turnout in February, saying he felt that the show of support for a measure that had tax implications of about $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, though not past the threshold, showed that a sizable portion of residents were willing to make a large investment into the district.

The new bond would be for $40,465,000, about $66.5 million less than the $107 million one offered in February. McCann said the new bond plan was formulated after the failure of February’s attempt at passage, with the board addressing the most immediate needs of the district that were components of the initial ballot measure.



“If you were to prioritize in a bond full of things that were all desperately needed, this was number-one,” McCann said.

The elementary school also made the most sense as its design had already been completed, meaning a successful election would allow for construction to begin in time for the 2021-2022 school year.

Though originally planned as a Kindergarten through fourth-grade building, the elementary school would initially be a K-6 school. McCann said that the wider grade spread would help alleviate capacity pressures at the Sunset Ridge/View Ridge campus, itself a production of a successful 2017 bond.

Should the bond pass, property taxes in the district would increase by 34 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, equating to $158.44 more annually on a median-priced, $466,000 home. McCann noted that the district currently has the third-lowest combined tax rate of districts in the area at about $3.35 per $1,000 of assessed value.

McCann said that the second bond may be more agreeable to two types of “no” voters — those who felt the $107 million ask was too much, and those who felt the scope of the previous bond addressed more than immediate needs given the level of growth in the district.

In the letter McCann stressed that the overall plan conceived in February’s go-around had not changed, but the district would look into phasing the projects in stages. When speaking to The Reflector he believed that by maintaining the focus of February’s ask, it should still be acceptable to those who supported last month’s effort.

“For those 59 percent-plus that said ‘we like the plan that was presented,’ this still allows us to move along that pathway as well,” McCann said. “It’s just going to take a little bit more time.”