The Cheney School District is growing fast. In fact, the district, which serves both Cheney and Airway Heights, is practically bursting at the seams.
While many school districts in the region are still struggling to regain pre-pandemic enrollment numbers, Cheney surpassed its pre-pandemic figures in the 2021-22 school year and then continued to grow to nearly 5,700 students. Its enrollment has grown by more than 25% or 1,100 students in the last decade, according to the annual report card from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. By comparison, the Mead School District, which has double the student population of Cheney, only grew by 6% or around 600 students in the past 10 years.
That's why in February, the Cheney School District asked voters to approve a $72 million construction bond to build a new school, buy land for future construction and make improvements to school facilities.
A majority of voters supported the proposition (about 55%), but in Washington construction bonds must earn more than 60% of the vote to pass. So the Cheney district was left without the money to expand its already crowded schools. Voters may experience a sense of déjà vu as the same bond proposition will appear again on the Nov. 5 ballot.
"The main share goes towards an elementary [school] in Airway Heights," Cheney Superintendent Ben Ferney says. "We want to, no, we need to build schools where our kids are."
The bond would set aside $59.7 million to build the 500-student elementary school and to buy land for another elementary school, secondary school and a centralized transportation site. Typically, Ferney says, elementary schools are built on 10 acres, while secondary schools (middle and high school) can require 20 to 50 acres.
Another $4 million would go to safety projects, such as updated bus and pedestrian trafficways at Windsor and Salnave Elementary Schools, new fencing and ADA-compliant improvements at Cheney High School, and upgraded security access at Snowdon Elementary and Westwood and Cheney Middle Schools.
The last $8.3 million would fund districtwide facility updates to things such as lighting, interior design, plumbing and HVAC systems.
After the bond failed to pass earlier this year, Ferney and the district's school board formed a Facilities Planning Committee to figure out why.
"We did a deep dive talking to folks in the district and got a lot of good community input on this," Ferney says.
What they found was that voters felt that the district had not adequately informed them as to why the bond was necessary, he says. To address that, the district added extensive information on its website, cheneysd.org, including project details, answers to frequently asked questions and a thorough video explainer.
"All of our focus right now is on getting the information out," Ferney says. "And we know more people are going to turn out because it's a presidential election."
SCHOOL FUNDING REQUESTS
COEUR D'ALENE SCHOOL DISTRICTVoters in Coeur d'Alene will be asked to approve a two-year, $50 million replacement levy that makes up a quarter of the Coeur d'Alene School District's budget for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. The levy is the same amount that voters approved for fiscal 2024 and 2025.
The levy's estimated tax impact is 93 cents for every $1,000 in assessed property value. In an August board of trustees meeting, district Superintendent Shon Hocker said the money funds 200 employees.
The district recently decided to close Borah Elementary School due to budget shortfalls. If the levy fails to get a simple majority approval, the district will need to figure out how to operate with $25 million less per year.
DEER PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Deer Park School District will ask voters to approve a $55.1 million construction bond to relieve overcrowding. The bond would provide money to build a new transportation center and elementary school.
The district was one of five in Spokane County that saw bond propositions fail in February. The district's previous ask, which received 49% of the vote in February, was for $62 million and included the renovation of Arcadia Elementary School and Deer Park Middle School. The new smaller request does not include those projects.
LAKELAND JOINT SCHOOL DISTRICT
The Lakeland Joint School District, which includes Rathdrum, Twin Lakes and Spirit Lake, will ask voters to approve a two-year, $19 million replacement levy. The levy would mostly fund employee salaries, but it also includes funding for school safety, extracurricular activities, curriculum and transportation.
The estimated tax impact is $1.05 for every $1,000 in assessed property value, but in an informative video about the levy, district Chief Finance Officer Jessica Grantham said that the actual rate will likely be lower.
ORCHARD PRAIRIE SCHOOL DISTRICT
With only 74 students enrolled between kindergarten and seventh grade, the Orchard Prairie School District is the smallest in Spokane County with a request on the ballot. The two-school district, located between Mead and Millwood, will ask voters to approve a $6.2 million construction bond to fund a new school building to replace the district's 50-year-old school. It's been half a century since any significant updates or renovations have been made to the school.
"The need to replace deteriorating and educationally outdated school facilities and infrastructure ... requires the district to provide safe, modern facilities," the bond proposition reads.
The district's other school, which shares the same campus, was built in 1894. The district has no intention of tearing down the century-old school: Officials plan to apply to place the property on a historic registry.
WEST VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
The West Valley School District also saw its construction bond fail in February. Instead of asking for the same bond again, the district opted to place a capital improvement levy on the November ballot to make safety, security and infrastructure improvements. The three-year, $12 million levy would further improve schools' entrance security, fund roof repairs at West Valley High School, and improve the pickup/dropoff areas at elementary and middle schools. Unlike construction bonds, a capital levy only needs a simple majority to pass.
The estimated levy rate is $1 for every $1,000 in assessed value. If passed, someone with a $400,000 home would pay an estimated $400 per year. ♦
