Ridgefield eyes $40.5 million bond for elementary school

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Ridgefield School District voters are set to make a decision on a roughly $40.5 million construction bond that would see a K-6 elementary school built in the northeast part of the district, among other improvement projects.

The district’s August primary election ballot measure is a second try of sorts to secure funding for capital projects this year, albeit pared down compared to a narrowly-defeated February vote. Chief among projects included in August’s vote is a 75,000-square-foot elementary school, set to be built on land off of Northwest 279th Street, east of Clark County Fire and Rescue’s Northwest 65th Avenue station. Though initially planned as a K-4 facility, the elementary would also house overflow from fifth and sixth grades until an intermediate school would be built down the line.

The bond would also pay for improvements at existing elementary schools.

Apart from the $40,465,000 that would be directly funded by the bond, projects included in the ballot measure would also receive $12.3 million in state funding. Bond-funded work would be supplemented by future land acquisition and design of a new middle-grades campus and design for a high school expansion, all paid out of fees charged to developers in the district intended to help fund schools.

The financial impact to district homeowners is expected to be 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, or about $149 annually on a $466,000 home, according to district information.

The August vote is on a significantly smaller bond than what was ran in February, which ultimately failed to get the required supermajority of 60 percent of voters by only 62 votes. Initially set for an April vote, the district board of directors decided to postpone the vote given the then relatively new COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent response limiting activity in Washington State.

Though restrictions related to COVID-19 are still in place, RSD Board President Joe Vance said that the months since the initial April date for the vote have allowed residents to get used to the changes made to mitigate the disease, which along with the state’s vote-by-mail system meant the board and district felt they could run an election with minimal interference.

In getting the word out, RSD Superintendent Nathan McCann said the district has relied on Thoughtexchange software to get feedback from the community. He said the software was “courtesy of COVID” as it was initially used to get feedback on the district’s remote learning activities, now employed to hear district residents’ concerns about the bond.

Vance said that even prior to restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19, the district’s informational events had better attendance virtually than in-person.

“In that sense, it hasn’t really changed anything,” Vance remarked. 

Vance acknowledged that COVID-19 has put a strain on everyone, though he noted issues with overcrowding at schools remains an issue for the district.



“The board is not oblivious, and certainly not tone-deaf to the historic moment that we’re in,” Vance said, adding that the “urgent need” for a new building did not disappear when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  

“When you look at the need for an elementary school, no one can argue (against) that need,” Vance remarked. 

In terms of what that population growth could be by the time the school would be built, McCann pointed to building permit activity in the city which he said was at a faster pace than in 2019. This year there had already been 245 new home permits issued in the city through June, above the 151 permits issued in that same timeframe last year,

McCann said a successful August bond would allow the district to bid out the construction project in the fall which he said was a more competitive time for projects, resulting in some 5 to 6 percent in savings on hard costs for the project compared to a spring bid.

The new building would be able to alleviate overcrowding at the district’s two existing elementary schools — Union Ridge and South Ridge — as well as taking on some of the district population currently attending Sunset Ridge Intermediate School at the

“This one elementary school has the ability to mitigate and support three buildings,” McCann said. 

The new elementary school would be completed for students to attend the new building in January 2022, which McCann noted could prove logistically challenging in shifting students in the middle of the school year. Information from the district stated that RSD would be able to save money from not having to use portables for another semester, and students who would otherwise be in such facilities would be in permanent classrooms earlier than if the district waited until next February to run a bond.

Though financial impacts to district voters would be exacerbated by COVID-19, Vance noted that the bond would be paid off in a 20-year period.

“When we pass a bond we recognize that during that period of the bond, there will always be (financial) ups and downs,” Vance said. With needs pressing and the potential for savings by running the ballot measure sooner than later, it made sense to continue on with the vote next month.

“Given the fiduciary duty that we have to the students and to the families in our district, that’s why we’re going forward,” Vance said.