Rundown on the West Ada School District Bond Proposal

Voters will go to the polls March 10 to cast their votes regarding the West Ada School District's bond proposal. If you're not in town March 10, early voting has started at Ada County Elections at 400 N. Benjamin Lane, Suite 100, Boise, or you can request an absentee ballot at https://adacounty.id.gov/elections. Since it is a bond proposal, it does need a two-thirds majority to pass.

Here's what being proposed:

Two middle schools
One school would be located on the west side of Stoddard Road, across from Bear Creek Subdivision. The second would be located north of Beacon Light Road and East of Pollard Lane in Star, Idaho.  The schools would primarily relieve Lake Hazel Middle School, which is has a capacity of 1,000 students with enrollment this year of 1452.  The middle school that would relieve the overcrowding at Lake Hazel Middle School would open for fall of 2016. The second middle school, located in Star, would relieve the overcrowding at Eagle Middle School, which is 250 students over its 1,000 student capacity. This new middle school would also help with overcrowding at Heritage Middle School, which is currently 162 students over capacity. This middle school would open for the fall of 2018. Both of these schools would be built using the same design as the middle schools that have been built in the district since the opening of Eagle Middle in 1995 and would have a 1,000 student capacity.
Cost: $60 million

One elementary school 
This school would relieve the overcrowding being experienced by the schools south of I-84. All of these schools -- Siena, Mary McPherson, Lake Hazel, Desert Sage, and Silver Sage Elementary -- have more students than their design capacity. The new elementary school would be built near the intersection of Eagle and Amity. Because this school is planned to be a joint facility with the YMCA, the school district will save approximately $2 million on the project by not having to build some common infrastructure, including the gymnasium.
Cost: $10 million

Remodel and expansion of Meridian High School 
Meridian High School has been under construction for the past two years, a project that will result in improving the academic classroom space in the building and also increasing its capacity by 200 seats. The current remodel project has been funded by the school district's voter-approved Plant Facility Levy. The project has an additional 5 phases to reach completion. Each phase will take an additional fiscal year to fund if paid for using Plant Facility Levy revenue. The Bond Committee that made the bond levy recommendation favored shortening that construction time by 2-3 years and also freeing up Plant Levy revenue for other building maintenance projects. Once completed, Meridian High will have a capacity of 2350, helping to reduce overcrowding at Rocky Mountain High School and Mountain View High School.
Cost: $24 million

Future land acquisition
With the available amount of land that is still able to be developed across the school district, more schools will need to be built in the future as enrollment continues to increase. While 8-10 acre elementary sites are not too difficult to acquire, 30-50 acre sites for future middle and high school can be more difficult to purchase, and tend to be more expensive if purchased when rooftops are already being constructed.  This revenue would be used to purchase a future high school sites west of Ten Mile Road, where development is beginning to occur.
Cost: $2 million

Impact on the levy rate 
The following chart shows the current amounts levied for each of the district's voter-approved measures. These include the Plant Facility Levy (used to maintain current buildings) the Supplemental Levy (used to fund school operations) and the payments on past voter-approved bonds going back to 1998. The column on the left shows the amount levied this year. The levy rate is determined by dividing that amount by the total taxable value of the property in the school district. The column on the right shows the amounts that were levied this year. As promised in the August bond election, the levy rate this year decreased by $39 per $100,000 of taxable property value. Because of increasing property values in the district, the combined rate for the Plant, Supplemental, and Bond levies will remain $399 per $100,000 of taxable value with the passage of the proposed bond.
 

2014-15 Taxable Value 14,024,766,151 Levy Amount Levy Rate Plant $20,000,000 0.001425011 Supplemental 14,000,000 0.000991475 Bond 22,084,226 0.001573513 0.003989999

In summary, the total levy rate this year decreased from $438.25 per $100,000 in taxable value to $399 per $100,000 in taxable property value. This rate will remain the same next year.