Richland School Board makes a decision on its 3rd high school. Here’s the plan

Eric Rosane
·4 min read

Richland School District will ask voters to approve a bond measure in November that will include money to build a new high school in West Richland.

The decision was made at the school board’s Tuesday night meeting with two unanimous votes: One to approve a slate of projects and another to place the bond on the general election ballot in six months.

A formal vote on ballot language will come back to the school board this summer for approval.

The $314 million bond measure would increase the property tax rate within the Richland School District by about $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.

It’s estimated Washington will contribute more than $43 million through the School Construction Assistance Program to total a pool of about $357 million in expendable capital. It would take four to five years to build.

Plans to build the district’s third comprehensive high school are nearly a decade in the making.

But decisions to move forward with a funding package have been complicated by the COVID pandemic and new demographic data that showed the district was not growing as fast as it was before the pandemic.

The school district was considering moving forward with a number of alternative projects to ease overcrowding at Richland High School and Hanford High School, but changed course yet again after parents and community members made it abundantly clear last month that they wanted a third high school.

“I think the package reflects exactly what we heard,” Board President Rick Jansons told the Tri-City Herald. “I’m excited about these projects.”

Converging hallways at Richland High School create congestion for students as they head home from classes.
Converging hallways at Richland High School create congestion for students as they head home from classes.

Richland has a squeaky clean record of passing school measures.

Over the last two decades, it has passed every bond and operations levy it’s presented to voters. Its last bond, passed in 2017, paid for three new elementary schools and renovations at Richland and Hanford high schools.

But voters in recent years have been less willing to pass bonds for new construction.

In 2023, for example, more than a dozen school districts across Washington tried passing construction measures and only two met the 60% support threshold for approval — Pasco and South Whidbey.

The biggest challenge Richland School Board members and bond supporters will have over the coming six months is explaining to skeptical voters why the funding is needed and why it will take an amount three times larger than the 2017 bond to do the job.

Pasco School District is nearly halfway finished with construction of Sageview High School, a 2,000-student school at 6091 Burns Road. The Tri-Cities’ eighth comprehensive high school will open to students in fall 2025.

Dollars and cents

In Washington state, bonds are for building schools and facilities while levies pay for learning and education programs.

Unlike levies, which require a simple majority of voters to pass, bond measures require a 60% “super majority” of voters in the district for approval. Local school districts share the burden of paying for the construction of new schools with the state, which provides matching dollars.

Richland’s third high school will be on 70 acres near the intersection of Belmont Boulevard and Keene Road.

Every school levy or bond measure that has come before Richland voters in the past two decades has been passed, according to this graphic. Changing public sentiment about public schools after the pandemic and tightened purse strings has led to a higher percentage of failed school measures across Washington state.
Every school levy or bond measure that has come before Richland voters in the past two decades has been passed, according to this graphic. Changing public sentiment about public schools after the pandemic and tightened purse strings has led to a higher percentage of failed school measures across Washington state.

When opened, the 260,000-square-foot building will serve 1,600 students living in West Richland, one of the fastest-growing communities in the state.

The district’s draft $314 million bond measure includes other high-priority needs:

  • $39 million for a new 40,000-square-foot innovative high school to serve 300-400 students, including attendees of Rivers Edge High School and Pacific Crest Online Academy.

  • $20 million in land purchases.

  • $19 million worth of safety and security projects already funded by the 2023 capital facilities levy. The district plans to cancel its 31-cent capital levy collections if the bond passes.

  • $16 million for a new 21,000-square-foot transportation cooperative facility.

  • $16 million for Hanford High School upgrades and a new theater scene shop.

  • $10 million for new tennis courts at Richland and Hanford high schools, running track replacements at middle schools, roof maintenance repairs, and parking lot and building repairs at Chief Joe Middle School.

  • $4 million for a new multi-purpose room at Richland High School.