Tri-City high schools are overcrowded. 2 districts will ask voters to fix that next February
Faced with booming populations, Richland and Pasco school districts plan to ask voters next February to pay for building two more large high schools in Tri-Cities.
New details emerged this week in Richland on the three options the school board will consider for a bond measure to building a third high school in addition to some other projects.
In Pasco, discussion has percolated in recent months about the district’s next steps to fund a third full-size high school, as well as plans to make headway on additional schools as the district grows.
Pasco’s Chiawana High School is already the largest public high school in the state of Washington with about 3,150 students.
Both school boards meet Tuesday, April 26, to hear more about their options.
3rd Richland high school
Back in 2016, the Richland School Board signed off on the district buying 70 acres near the intersection of Belmont Boulevard and Keene Road in West Richland.
After several years and delays due to the COVID pandemic, the district finally has some firm options on the table.
Three bond packages are proposed so far, ranging from about $303 million to $383 million in size.
The district expects to receive another $24 million in matching state dollars once voters approve a bond.
“We still have overcrowding, especially at our high school level. Our community is growing; we have more than 800 homes slated to be built out in West Richland over the next 10 years at least, and another 800 slated to be built out in south Richland,” district spokesperson Ty Beaver told the Herald this week.
Hanford High School, built in the 1970s as a K-12 school and renovated in the early 2000s, is designed to serve less than 1,700 students. Currently, 1,950 students are enrolled this school year. Enrollment there has grown steadily over the last decade.
At Richland High School, enrollment has remained consistent though bloated. About 2,100 students are enrolled this year.
“A big part of having the third high school is we really want to expand student opportunities and experiences, so students can be involved in more things,” said Superintendent Shelley Reddinger.
Beaver said the West Richland high school would serve about 1,700 students, and allow enrollment at the other two schools to simmer to about the same number of students over the coming years.
But there’s also more to the proposals than a single high school.
“Option A,” the baseline $303 million bond package, would include:
- $205 million for a new comprehensive high school No. 3.
- $39.5 million for a new River’s Edge High School building. The portables facility can only serve about 150 students currently.
- $48.3 million for maintenance, operations, transportation and IT facility consolidation.
- $10 million for more land, mostly for another elementary school, and for pre-design work.
The other two options would fund additional projects ranked as a priority by the district’s facilities committee.
The $336 million “Option B” would also include funding for:
- $6.9 million to add a theater scene shop and enhance Hanford High School’s athletic complex.
- $3.9 million to add a sod playfield at Richland High School’s vacated transportation/warehouse site.
- $8.9 million to expand Homelink educational spaces.
- $5.15 million for district-wide safety and security upgrades.
The $383 million “Option C” would also pay for a 12th elementary school costing about $47.2 million. Details are still being worked out on the proposal.
Following Tuesday’s board presentation, Reddinger said they will be soliciting feedback from parents and the community on the proposals.
The school board and staff will take that feedback and refine the package into a single proposal for voters to consider.
Pasco’s 3rd high school
Pasco School District also is considering two options to ask voters in February 2023 — either $190.5 million or $198.5 million, to build out its third comprehensive high school, as well as a program-focused innovative high school.
Comprehensive high school No. 3 at Road 60 and Burns Road will cost nearly $140 million and would house about 2,000 students.
Innovative high school No. 2 on Salt Lake Street will cost close to $38 million and house about 600 students.
Both would begin serving students fall 2025, if voters approve next year’s measure.
“The city of Pasco projects a growth in the population of 50,000 within the next 20 years, leading to continued enrollment growth for Pasco schools,” district spokesperson Anna Tensmeyer said in an emailed statement.
“The bond 2023 preliminary scope includes adding a new comprehensive high school No. 3 and a small innovative high school, which would create room for 2,600 students, alleviate overcrowding in current high schools and allow room for enrollment growth.”
Pasco High School, which serves about 2,466 students this year, is overpopulated by about 100 kids. Chiawana High School with 3,150 students enrolled considers its facilities overpopulated by more than 450.
More than 900 of those seats between the two schools are in portable buildings the district has purchased over time, which Tensmeyer says is not an “ideal situation.”
The measure currently being proposed would also include $2 million for athletic fields, $11 million in CTE modernizations for Chiawana and Pasco high schools, and $7.5 million to buy land for future elementary and middle schools.
It’s estimated the state would match about $46.3 million in funds to a $198 million bond measure, for a total of about $244.8 million.
The Pasco School Board will finalize the project’s scope, bond amount and its eligibility for state financing at its upcoming April 26 meeting, as well as finalize a bond resolution either in September or October.
