BEX VI - Honestly, Just Say No

Update

I realized I didn't give you a link and I found something odd. In the Board Action Report that the Board received at their October 9th Board meeting, the "property acquisition" cost is in there. BUT, in the webpage at the district's site, it is not. It only says "Replacement of one aging elementary school in northeast Seattle: $150,000,000."

Hmmm

end of update

I'll give the district credit - it's ballsy to ask for even MORE dollars for capital needs. Before I explain why I find BEX VI just ridiculous, some background.

In the past, the district had set up two levies - BEX and BTA - that would be renewed every six years and were staggered three years apart. So, with the Education/Operations levy, there would also be either a BEX levy or BTA on the ballot. T

The district last lost a levy in the late '90s. Other districts are probably pea-green with envy over the SPS success in passing levies.

BEX stands for Building Excellence and BTA stands for Buildings Technology and Athletics. You used to be able to know that BEX was the list for renovating entire buildings along with any major maintenance that did not find its way onto BTA. 

BTA was the workhorse maintenance levy - HVAC, roofs, district headquarters systems for operations, and athletics including field maintenance. The district must keep up the fields because they have a joint use agreement with the City over their use. (I have never seen this agreement so I'm not really sure how it works.)

HOWEVER, as the years have gone by, both BEX and BTA saw more and more items. The "A" in BTA now includes academics. BEX now covers 80 90% of the Technology Department costs including staff. I have never thought it a good idea to fund nearly all of a single department - and an important one at that - out of a levy. 

One side note. When you run a levy, the money comes in increments as it is collected and it only takes a 50%+1 vote. When you run a bond, the district gets ALL the money at once so the bond vote has to be a super-majority of 60%. Most other Puget Sound districts try to pass bonds because they don't have any capital funds on reserve to start projects. But with that super-majority vote requirement, most districts can't pass their bonds. 

Here's a good overview from WASA about the differences between levies and bonds.

One HUGE thing to understand about levies - you are voting for a pot of money. The district can use that pot of money any way they want within state law. (And now SPS wants to push that envelope of what they can use the levies for in Olympia.) Yes, of course, it behooves them to do what is on the BEX list submitted to voters but they DON'T have to. 

So, to BEX VI.

First, just like in the past, they are asking for more money than last time. BEX IV was a modest $694M and had 17 major building projects. BEX V was $1.4B which I thought was crazytown to ask for.  It had 11 major building projects.

Then we come to BEX VI and they are asking for $1.8B. It has just 3 schools slated for modernization (2 elementaries and 1 middle school.) Then it has an addition at a high school and updating for an interim site (John Marshall).  Just for those projects - $658.6M.

Count with me now and you get to 5 major projects. The costs for these are just astronomical. SPS has, for a long time of citing "rising building costs" but I have checked in other districts in the region and it never costs them what it costs SPS. 

But here's the kicker - they want to spend $150M dollars on - wait for it - a NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, location unknown. AND $10M is also set aside for..."property acquisition and infrastructure." 

I'm not kidding. Closing schools while asking for money to buy land for a new elementary school AND then building it. That's should be the headline. Unbelievable.

The other big issue is that the list of what they are doing in this BEX looks a lot like what was always in BTA. And, of course, no specifics on what is happening at which schools. Maybe that will come out in their virtual levy meetings that are coming up. I doubt it but if they want this much money, we want to see the detail.

I note that in Special Education, I see three small pots of money that may affect them.

- ADA improvements - $1M

- Elevator repair - $1M

- Special Education program - $1M

Other notable items:

- $2.6M for gender inclusive restrooms.

- $8.6M for RBHS Performing Arts Center (You rarely see one project spill over into another levy but the spending on RBHS has gone on and on. It will definitely be the most expensive high school ever rebuilt in SPS and likely the entire state.)

Then under Technology Projects we see more vagueness.

- Student learning and support - $114M

- District systems and data - $70M (I REALLY want to know about this one.)

- Professional Development - $26M (who is this for and why is it so low compared to district systems and data?)

- Staff - $83.4M (What staff and where?)

I will be asking the district for specifics. I see that the West Seattle Blog is reporting on the single high school item, Chief Sealth IHS,  which will be building a CTE addition and more general education classroom. I note that Sealth is one of two high schools that has never been fully renovated as a single project. The other is Ingraham HS. 

Sad to learn that the co-founder of the West Seattle Blog, Patrick Sand, who was also husband to co-founder Tracy Record, passed away on October 17th. He was a great guy and that blog is crucial to West Seattle. My deepest condolences to Tracy and his entire family.