It’s time for ISD to be fiscally responsible

As a resident of the Issaquah School District, I urge voters to reject Bond Proposition 1, which funds the building of a new high school in the school district.

ISD claims that overcrowding impacts every family in our district. However, only a minority of the families in the district have school-aged children. What actually does impact every family in the district is ISD’s constant demand for more of our tax money.  

If this bond proposition passes, and the proposed new high school project is built, its total cost will approach $350 million, including the cost of interest on the bonds. But that does not account for the inevitable inflation of construction costs, the true costs of expanding 228th Avenue SE and the expense of operating the new high school.

Furthermore, the project would have numerous adverse environmental and safety impacts. These impacts include irrevocable damage to Laughing Jacobs Creek, one of the few spawning grounds left for the threatened kokanee salmon. A significant increase in volume of stormwater would be discharged into the creek due to the increase in impervious surfaces being added to the site. That means stormwater would be collected temporarily into storage tanks instead of percolating naturally into the ground. It would then be released into the creek, causing additional erosion in the creek bed.  

Another adverse impact would be increased school traffic on 228th Avenue from the unsafe single entrance and exit to the new high school. By ISD’s own consultant’s predictions, the project would result in 4,100 more vehicle trips per day on 228th Avenue, adding to the already highly crowded arterial during morning commute time. 228th Avenue is one of only a very few routes off the Sammamish Plateau, and more traffic could easily create a significant safety risk during a major emergency like another bomb cyclone or a major fire.

ISD asserts that enrollment is projected to rise. This is disproven by ISD’s own overly optimistic projections. As shown in their 2024 Capital Facilities Plan, or CFP (page 9), high school enrollment is declining and will not return to current levels until the 2031-32 school year. Analysis of historical CFPs shows their projections made more than five years into the future have been overestimated by as much as 20%.

ISD claims that delaying this project further will only increase costs and place a heavier burden on taxpayers. However, I firmly believe that this expensive project is not needed, and that there are more fiscally and environmentally responsible solutions, including: 

• Returning to a junior high model (i.e. K-6, 7-9, and 10-12). This gets 9th graders out of the high schools, thus relieving their overcrowding. There is plenty of capacity in the middle and elementary school buildings to accommodate the extra class level (see ISD’s 2024 CPF).
• Build a school similar to Tesla STEM or a trades type school on the site, which would have a smaller footprint and would not require athletic facilities.
• Buy the empty building next to the ISD administration building in Issaquah and convert it to a STEAM school. 
• Sell the property for the huge profit they would realize and reduce our property taxes. 
• Some combination of the above

Finally, ISD claims that they will continue to focus on serving the needs of their students and if the bond fails, they will consider options. But their words do not match their actions. In fact, they have passed Resolution 1235 to place yet another proposition on the April ballot to try to fund the new high school once more.

I agree that our students deserve better. So does our community. This bond, and its school project, are not better solutions. The public should not pay for things that are not needed and should not support an ill-conceived solution to a problem that the Issaquah School Board itself created.  

I urge you to vote “no” on Proposition 1 on the February 11 ballot.

Michele Williams has 19 years of experience as an elementary school teacher and 20 years of experience as an assistant principal and principal in two states. She has supervised student teachers for UW Bothell including those from three schools in the Issaquah School District. She lives within ISD boundaries, and is a resident of Issaquah.