By AL STOVER
Staff Reporter 

Cheney School bond proposal goes 0-2 in 2015

 

Last updated 1/7/2016 at 12:24pm

The graphic above depicts voting patterns in the Cheney School District for the February and April high school expansion and renovation bond special elections. Arrows represent the percentage of overall support for the bond in five areas: Airway Heights, Cheney, Geiger Heights, the 9th Legislative District and Windsor/Marshal.

Coming in No. 4 in the 2015 Top 10 stories was the Cheney School District's $44.8 million proposed bond that failed twice when it went to voters.

The ballot measure asked voters to approve an increase of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property tax valuation, raising the overall tax rate to a projected $5.79 beginning in 2016, where it would have remained until 2027, baring no other bond measures.

It was the first of a two-part plan to expand and modernize the high school and build 12 new classrooms, remove eight existing portables, construct and equip specialty academic spaces along with a new gym and new wrestling and aerobics room. The plan included an expanded cafeteria and student commons, a new main hallway were added to help alleviate congestion, added security, parking corridors and entryways and a new 700-seat auditorium.

The bond wasn't without opposition. Former school board Director James Whiteley cast the lone no vote to put the bond on the ballot at the Aug. 20, 2014 school board meeting, expressing reservations about the overall tax rate climbing above $5 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, something he said the district had told voters it would not do after they approved the $79 million 2010 bond to build two new middle schools and an elementary school.

Bill Johns, member of the Citizens Facility Advisory Committee, proposed an alternative $11.6 million bond that included the additional classrooms, safety, circulation and a new alternate high school but no auditorium.

In the Feb. 10 election the bond received 58.43 percent approval - 3,712 to 2,641 - failing to meet the 60 percent for passage.

Voters in five precincts rejected the bond, a number that included both precincts south of Cheney to the Whitman County border, one precinct running west along either side of Salnave Road around Medical Lake to the Lincoln County line, one straddling Highway 2 west of Airway Heights and one north of the highway northwest of Fairchild Air Force Base. Overall turnout in the school district was 37.54 percent, with just 6,405 of a possible 17,060 voters returning their ballots

After the bond failed the first time, supporters urged the district to run it again. The district and supporters felt those who voted no or did not vote, didn't know or understand the bond well enough. The district voted, 4-1 to put the bond proposal on the upcoming April 28 special election ballot.

The district instituted several measures to gain public input including sending out letters, holding a comment period at the board's Feb. 25 meeting, conducting school tours and posting a survey on the district's website and on its Facebook page.

In the second go-around, the bond failed to pass in the April election, receiving only 55.43 percent approval - 3,792 to 3,049 - but the bond again fell short of the 60 percent needed for approval. According to information from the Spokane County Elections Department website, 467 more voters cast ballots in the April election than in February, but of those, just 69 voted for approval.

The decline in support for the measure was felt in virtually all of the district's 26 precincts on the West Plains. In February, five precincts voted against the bond. In April, eight voted to reject, with precincts 6014 east of Airway Heights, 6400 in west Airway Heights and 6027 north/northwest of Cheney and including Four Lakes all switching to no. Cheney voters cast 169 more ballots in April, with 139 voting to reject the bond, leading to a decline in support in all five precincts.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.

Information taken from previous stories written throughout the year.

 

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