The Daily World Editorial Board
It’s well past time that students at Stevens Elementary in Aberdeen have a modern and efficient school like their classmates in every other part of town.
The Daily World’s editorial board makes a strong endorsement for the bond issue on the Feb. 11 ballot to build a new Stevens School, and for the enrichment levy that funds day-to-day needs across the school district.
If Aberdeen High School had not burned in 2002, Stevens almost certainly would have been replaced by now as part of a long-term construction program in the 1990s that brought the district’s buildings up to standards.
All four of the other grade schools have already undergone major renovations or been replaced since the 1990s. Renovations were done at A.J. West (1994), Central Park (1995) and McDermoth (1998). Robert Gray School was rebuilt and opened in 2002.
The high school needed to take priority over Stevens, and district leaders at the time made the right decision to build a high school the entire town can be proud of. Now, the high school is almost paid for and it’s time to make sure every student has the benefit of a modern school.
Stevens was built in 1951 and the last time it was modernized in a major way was in the ‘70s. Someone observed that in some hallways it’s like walking in a submarine. Long stretches of new pipes run along the ceiling in some places, necessary because fixing the old ones, which are up above the ceilings, would pose an asbestos risk.
Heating is a major problem in the building and chronic maintenance costs on the boiler and other systems are high. A facilities plan on whether to renovate the building or replace it determined that replacing the school is more cost efficient and safer.
The bond issue asks voters for permission to borrow no more than $46.8 million, to be paid back with property taxes.
It’s a lot of money, but it’s not extravagant for a school building that will meet the safety and learning standards that the students deserve. It will also include a tower so that students at Stevens and nearby Miller Junior High can get to safety in the event of a tsunami. The Federal Emergency Management Administration has already committed money for that.
There’s no other investment a community can make in itself that pays more dividends and offers more value per dollar invested than in the education it provides its children. Good school systems are one of the primary reasons that people move to cities that have good schools. And neglected school systems are one of the primary reasons people will leave a community.
The administration and the school board have structured this bond issue so that even with passage of the enrichment levy, it will not raise property taxes above 2017 levels. Essentially, that’s because when the high school bond is paid off in 2023, the repayment of the Stevens bond would begin.
What’s wrong, you might ask, with instead of turning around and borrowing more, the taxpayers just get to keep a little more once the high school is paid off?
What’s wrong is that it leaves almost 500 grade school aged students in South Aberdeen to learn in facilities that aren’t as good as their peers’ in other parts of town. And that leaves us with a diminished school system and maintenance problems that will result in throwing good money after bad.
Sometimes you just have to invest in your community and this investment is overdue.
