East Valley School District has failed every bond attempt for 30 years. The April election could change that

There's an old idiom East Valley Superintendent Brian Talbott finds himself repeating as his school district seeks property tax collections to replace two over-50-year-old schools.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago," Talbott said. "The second-best time is now."

It rings true, Talbott said, in his district that hasn't passed a bond in three decades despite eight attempts, the most recent in February.

As the buildings get older and require more maintenance, construction costs to replace them continue to escalate, Talbott said.

"We just keep kicking the can," he said.

Without a voter-approved bond as a vehicle to collect property taxes long term to pay for major construction, East Valley has been financing small repairs with capital levies over the years.

That's not sustainable, Talbott said.

On April ballots is East Valley's $220 million bond proposal to replace its high school and middle school, built in 1961 and 1968. It's identical to the district's measure that failed in February with 54.6%. Bonds require a supermajority, or 60% voter approval to pass.

If passed, the bond would tax property owners at an estimated yearly rate of $1.96 per $1,000 in assessed property value over its 21-year life. Because an existing 74-cents-per-thousand tax levy from the school is set to expire, property owners would see their bills increase by $1.23 per thousand under the bond.

"I feel the burden that this is for our people," Talbott said. "At the same time, as a superintendent of the school district, I have a job to do, and it doesn't always feel good."

About $138 million of the bond would go towards replacing the high school, $77 million for the middle school and $60 million to be spread around the district. There's also a $55 million state allocation the district would get if it passes in February, which would be less in future bond attempts.

"As a taxpayer, I hope that we are able to do this now," he said. "Because $220 million five years from now won't build what it will build now."

The East Valley School Board had two weeks after learning the February bond failed to decide if they wanted to try again in April. The board didn't reduce the ask, prompting some residents to question, "We just told you no, so why are you running it so quickly?" Talbott said.

Part of the reason the board opted to run the same bond was because it earned majority support.

"It's not one of those things where it's like we're just going to ignore the quote-unquote, voice of the people," Petersen said. "The voice of the people said, 'Yes, please do this.' "

The buildings are showing their age, school staff said.

Just about every school in the district is in need of a new roof, and many heating and cooling systems are so old that replacement parts are no longer in production. Costly repairs are constant, district administrators said, having reached the point where it's more cost -effective to replace the schools.

"It's continuing to put money, duct tape and Band-Aids - expensive duct tape and Band-Aids - on buildings that need to be replaced," Talbott said.

Not only do district leaders see the financial reasons to replace the schools, but the chance to give students modern spaces fit for 21st century learning.

Some East Valley parents said they've moved their kids from East Valley to a neighboring district with more to offer.

Ben Wick, a Spokane Valley City Council member who is involved with the "Yes 4 East Valley" bond campaign, has two kids in East Valley's Continuous Curriculum School.

The other two attend a Central Valley school. He said it's all because of the lack of funding in East Valley. And if the bond doesn't pass next week, Wick said he'll consider moving his younger kids too.

"The opportunity difference is why," Wick said. "We need the opportunities back at East Valley."

Wick's kids are heavily into band, orchestra and theater, but East Valley schools don't have a theater space. Since he's moved two of his kids from schools in East Valley, the difference between the districts has become obvious to him.

More languages, classes and extracurriculars are offered at Central Valley by far, Wick said.

A parent and a teacher in East Valley's Parent Partnership Program Rebecca Hughes said she would "never send my child to the high school."

"I do believe that sometimes East Valley students are hindered because of the fact that they don't have a great environment," Hughes said.

"They don't have some of the opportunities that some of the other middle school or high schools have."

East Valley resident Ann Borgman said she's already voted for the bond and supported it during the last election.

"These schools are old," Borgman said, gesturing to East Valley Middle School, where her granddaughter attends.

"I don't understand people who want to vote no, because I think our students deserve to be in safe schools where they're not worried about leakage of water and roofs falling in on their heads."

Kaitlin Larson, who has a seventh-grader and a junior at East Valley Middle and High Schools, has lived in district boundaries for 25 years and is adamantly for the bond.

"We have the best people, the best people. That's why we've stayed," Larson said. "We've encouraged others to stay, and we are missing out because of our facilities. The people here are so incredible, the educators and every support staff ... our outsides just don't match our insides right now."

Larson is on the Facility Improvement Team for the school district and said she feels confident that the bond will pass this time around, even though some folks in the area are campaigning against the bond because it will increase taxes.

"I know right now it's so hard. We're all feeling such a pinch. We have to look long term. We can't make short-term choices on long-term values and goals," Larson said. "It always comes down to dollar and cents, right? But think about it as a long-term solution that improves your home value, tax revenue; it improves everything."

If the bond fares the same, Petersen said the district will likely send to voters a capital levy in November to pay for maintenance, bridging the gap for another potential bond ask down the line.

"We will have to do something, and we'll have to do something soon," Petersen said. "We will have to keep addressing those buildings until we pass a bond or the buildings fail."

April ballots are to be post marked or submitted to a ballot box by 8 p.m. on Election Day, April 28.

Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.