High Quality Instruction and Learning for Every Child, Every Day in Every Classroom
March 2016
Voters continue to support local schools; both February ballot measures pass with overwhelming support for Renton Schools Voters in the February election for Renton Schools continued to show their support for local education by passing both measures on the ballot with overwhelming support. Proposition 1, the Replacement Educational Programs, Maintenance and Operations Levy, passed with nearly 65 percent yes votes; Proposition 2: Building for a Lifetime of Learning Capital Levy to Construct and Renovate School Facilities passed with over 63 percent of the yes vote.
Proposition 1 will replace a current levy that expires in 2016. It is not a new tax, and provides more than 26 cents of every dollar spent in classrooms and for school building upkeep and maintenance. Proposition 2, a Capital Facilities Levy, will support the district’s long-range plans to provide adequate learning space for all students by building a new, additional elementary school, and upgrading and renovating other school facilities. The levy also included funding for the district’s longrange technology plan.
Thanks to overwhelming voter support, district to move quickly to build additional elementary school Thanks to overwhelming support for local education and voter approval of two levies on the February 9 election ballot, Renton School District will move quickly to begin the process to build the much-needed additional elementary school in north Renton, at the current Sartori School site at 315 Garden Ave N, Renton. The new school will be the district’s fourteenth elementary school. Renton Superintendent Dr. Art Jarvis is leading a team of district planners and other staff to move quickly to place bids for an architectural firm to plan the building and begin the process of securing permits and other documents to completely raze the old building to make way for the new school. It is anticipated that the new elementary school will be ready to open in the fall of 2018, at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. Using funds from past voter-approved bond measures, the district recently purchased the houses that sit on the block where the school will be built, along with a small grocery store and restaurant. Those buildings will be soon removed to provide space for the new elementary school, a playground, school bus pick-up/ drop-off area, and parking for teachers, staff, parents and visitors.