As of 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5. the Auburn School District’s $532,100,000. construction bond was garnering 52.4 percent of the combined votes of King and Pierce Counties.
The result above breaks down to 61.5 percent yes in Pierce county and 51.33 percent yes in King County.
If success required only a simple majority, that number would be more than enough to pass the bond, but the state of Washington requires a 60-percent supermajority for passage.
While Dr. Alan Spicciati, Superintendent of the Auburn School District, expects the results to “trickle up” with succeeding tallies over the coming weeks, and many votes left to count, he seemed resigned that in the final summation the numbers would not “trickle up” enough to get the bond over the super-majority threshold.
Meanwhile Ryan Foster of Auburn Citizens for Schools took a different approach.
”Lotsa votes left to count,” Foster said
This is not the final word on a bond, which is likely to increase in cost with each future effort as the improvements are still needed.
“We’re going to take some time, and we’ll be back,” Spicciati said, as he thanked the members of Auburn Citizens for Schools who’d gathered at Odd Fellas Tuesday evening to monitor the results.
The goal was to provide additional classrooms, improve safety, and address critical systems at a number of geriatric schools.
Here’s what district was hoping to fund:
• Construction of a fifth middle school, on ASD property on Sumner-Tapps Highway East;
• Replacement of 57-year-old Cascade Middle School on ASD property on I St. NE and 40th St. NE;
• Replacement of 52-year-old Alpac Elementary School on its current site; and
• Improvements at 16 schools and six support buildings to address safety, security, and critical systems.
The Auburn School District’s argument for the bond was that its aging schools are costly to maintain and lack essential features of new schools.And while the district takes care of its schools, after more than 50 years, the old ones divert money from the educational operating budget for repairs.
