Kennewick Voters to Decide on School Bond in February – 5 New Schools Planned

It will be one of the larger expansion projects for the Kennewick School District in a number of years, as the district has grown by over 2,000 more students.

Wednesday evening, the Kennewick School Board officially voted to place an $89 million dollar bond to voters on February 10th, 2015.     The bond would cover the following construction and renovation projects:

• Replace Desert Hills Middle School with a new structure, which would open in the fall of 2016 on a site near Clodfelter Road.
• Three new elementary schools, located at 27th. Ave and Southridge Blvd;  another at the Sagecrest site, and a third that would open in 2018 at one of two as-yet-to-be determined sites.
• Replacing the old Westgate Elementary with a new building at it's present location;  much like what is being done on 10th Ave. with the old Eastgate School.  It's being torn down, and the new school built just behind it.
• New roofing projects at Horse Heaven, Highlands and Park Middle schools;  new HVAC units at Horse Heaven and Vista Elementary and Southridge High...plus a number of other projects.

The bond would cost a typical homeowner of a $200,000 home about $44 dollars more a year.  Currently, Kennewick school officials say the district has grown by over 2,000 students over the last six years.  The district also has 119 portables, 59 of them located at elementary and 33 at it's middle schools - and that number grows each year.