Weber School District discusses potential bond election to build, replace schools
Members of the Weber School District Board of Education look at a map of housing developments that are being built as it discusses a potential upcoming bond initiative at the Weber School District Administration building in Washington Terrace on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
Members of the Weber School District Board of Education look at a map of housing developments that are being built as it discusses a potential upcoming bond initiative at the Weber School District Administration building in Washington Terrace on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
Superintendent Jeff Stephens listens during a presentation of a potential upcoming bond initiative at the Weber School District Administration building in Washington Terrace on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
Superintendent Jeff Stephens, front, and members of the Weber School District Board of Education listen during a presentation of a potential upcoming bond initiative at the Weber School District Administration building in Washington Terrace on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021.
WASHINGTON TERRACE — The Weber School District on Friday held its first meeting to discuss a potential upcoming bond initiative that would bring a new high school to Weber County.
Both totaling more than $200 million, the two options it is considering would also add a junior high school and elementary school, as well as cover the cost of rebuilding Roosevelt Elementary School in Washington Terrace. The pricier of the possibilities would include a third new elementary school building and a renovation of Pioneer Elementary School, where Canyon View School would relocate.
“We looked at our enrollment, growth and patterns of growth throughout the school district, as well as looked at some of our facilities that are getting to approach 60-70 years of age, and where they are as far as being effective facilities to be able to educate kids,” said Superintendent Jeff Stephens at the meeting.
The district has been eyeing a bond initiative for over a year. Last March, it hired an architect to begin the design process for a new high school.
Friday’s meeting was meant to serve merely as a study session, school district spokesperson Lane Findlay said, and the school board has not yet made a decision regarding a potential bond initiative. According to state law, the school board must make a decision on whether it will pursue a bond initiative — and what that proposal will be — at least 75 days prior to the election. This year, that deadline lands on Aug. 19.
Purpose
One of the most pressing issues that is leading district officials to ask for a bond initiative is the increasingly limited amount of space in its high schools.
Currently, Roy and Fremont high schools are starting to feel the pressure of student bodies that are larger than their facilities were built for, with each at 98% and 97% capacity, respectively. Weber High School has already exceeded its capacity and is 102% full. All three schools have expanded into portable classrooms.
“We can always temporarily put portables in places. The problem is when we do that we don’t get extra gym space, we don’t get extra bathrooms, we don’t get extra cafeterias. And so as we press that capacity out, it becomes untenable for schools to function,” district Facilities Director Scott Zellmer said.
In recent years, the district has made other efforts to relieve the burden population growth is putting on high schools. It built onto Fremont High School as part of a 2017 bond initiative, adding 12 classrooms. And the district’s Weber Innovations Center, which opened in 2015, has drawn some students away from their traditional high schools, Stephens said.
Still, according to Stephens, high schools are struggling to keep up.
Overcrowding is not a problem limited to the district’s high schools. Four junior high schools — North Ogden, Orion, Rocky Mountain and Wahlquist — have surpassed their building’s capacities, with Orion reaching 116%. Sandridge and South Ogden junior high schools are nearing their capacity levels.
While not as pronounced of a problem, some elementary schools are struggling to find space for students, too. Majestic Elementary School in Harrisville is at 110% capacity, and Kanesville Elementary School in western Weber County has reached 104% capacity.
“We have just tried to utilize our existing facilities as absolutely effectively and efficiently as we can. That has involved boundary adjustments,” Stephens said. He continued, “We’re kind of coming to you at this point and saying … we’re just about out of those kinds of strategies to continue to utilize our existing facilities.”
Zellmer said the district expects its enrollment to continue to go up, with growth concentrated in the western part of the county as housing developments continue to sprout up.
“These homes are bringing in lots and lots of kids,” Zellmer said.
The last high school built by the district was Fremont in 1994. A new high school would be built between there and Roy High, at 2200 S. 4300 West in Taylor, where the district owns a 52-acre plot of land. The new junior high school and elementary school would both be located in West Haven.
A potential bond initiative would also continue efforts to replace some of the district’s oldest buildings. Zellmer asked foremen employed by the district to rank each of its buildings based on how well-equipped it is to function in their category of expertise.
The schools that scored worst were Roosevelt Elementary School, T.H. Bell Junior High School and Canyon View School.
“As we look at needs, Roosevelt jumps to the top of the list,” Zellmer said, and a rebuild of that school would be included in any bond initiative the school board approves.
Zellmer said T.H. Bell Junior High has been maintained well over the years, and the district could likely delay a rebuild of that building, but Canyon View School is something that the district is at some point going to have to address.
If the board opts to go with the more expensive bond proposal, it would get rid of the Canyon View property completely and sell the land it is located on, which is technically in the Ogden School District.
Canyon View students would then move to a renovated Pioneer Elementary School, and Pioneer students would make the trek to a third new elementary school building. That building would also take in portions of students from other elementary schools dealing with an oversized student body, like Majestic.
Cost
According to Matthew Dugdale and Preston Kirk, who work with the wealth management and investment banking firm Stifel, the Weber School District is in good shape to take on a bond. And now is a good time, because interest rates are at a low point for the last 10 years, Dugdale said.
Although the district still has previous bonds to pay back, he added, those debts have consistently decreased, putting it in position for another. It has also managed to make those payments while relying on county growth and not increasing the burden on individual taxpayers, Dugdale noted.
“We just really want to express to the public how successful the district has been in keeping its promises to taxpayers,” Dugdale said. “As we look at the tax levy history of the district, in the last (bond) election in 2017, there was a promise of no increase and that promise has absolutely been kept.”
Depending on which of the district’s propositions the board ultimately decides to put on the ballot, there is a chance that property owners again won’t see a tax increase associated with the bond.
The first option, which only includes a new high school, junior high school, elementary school and the Roosevelt Elementary rebuild, adds up to a total of $219 million.
If the district takes that bond out over five issues, meaning it would have to space out the construction projects, taxpayers would see no increase as long as the value of taxable property in the county grows by at least 10% in the first year of the bond, and at least 5% each year after that, Kirk said. Taxpayers would see an increase, however, if that bond was taken out over four issues.
Business Administrator Robert Petersen said he would “bet someone a Frostie” that the district would see at least 10% growth this June when it receives its assessment value from Weber County, and that it could “very well” see that increase continue in subsequent years.
The district decided to stick with a conservative projection of taxable property value growth, Stephens said, because it doesn’t want to “overpromise and underdeliver.”
The second route, which tacks on the Pioneer Elementary renovation to replace Canyon View School and a new building for the elementary school students, comes at a steeper price of $262 million. That option would more than likely result in tax hikes, though the size of the increase is dependent on whether the district goes with four or five bond issues.
Broken down, the new high school comes with the highest initial estimated price tag, by far. It will cost an estimated $111,473,000. The new junior high school is estimated to come at a price of $50,827,000, while the new and rebuilt elementary schools would be $28,669,000 and $27,925,000, respectively.
If the board chooses the second option, the Pioneer Elementary renovation would cost an estimated $12,300,000, and a third elementary school building would be built for about $31,009,000.
Election
Before the Weber school board makes any decisions on a potential bond initiative, it plans to feel out the level of public support on the matter. The Weber School District has contracted with Y2 Analytics to get a better sense of where voters sit when it comes to a bond election.
“My job is to remind you there’s a stakeholder not present today, and that is taxpayers. And not just taxpayers, but the subset of taxpayers that are likely to vote in an election in which a bond would appear,” said Scott Riding, who works with the research group.
He continued, “This is a group who, they don’t know much about this district. Some of them might have some inkling, if they’re parents in particular, but as a broader group their relationship to this district is intermittent, at best. … A whole huge group of them probably won’t hear anything about this bond except the language that they read on the ballot when it’s time to vote.”
Y2 Analytics will help the district determine the likelihood of the bond initiative passing, Riding said.
The group plans to begin organizing surveys and focus groups to present bond ideas to Weber County residents immediately. Riding predicted they will hear a wide range of opinions, from parents concerned about crowded classrooms to retirees who attended one-room schools and don’t feel additional buildings are necessary.
The results of those initial efforts will likely be presented to the school board in June. Afterword, the group will conduct a second round of surveys in mid-July, the outcome of which it will bring to the school board at the beginning of August, just before it needs to make a decision.
In the meantime, school board members hope to hear from constituents, and the district will eventually begin planning public information meetings. Whatever bond initiative the school board approves, it will be voted on in Nov. 2 municipal elections.
