MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake School Board heard a presentation from the district’s Facility Advisory Committee recommending that Larson Heights and North elementaries be demolished and replaced with a new elementary that would serve students from both campuses. The board did not vote on whether to accept the recommendation. 

“We’ve gotten community feedback, both with the survey (in the spring) and just being out and about and talking with people over the last year, and again, the taxpayer dollars keep coming up,” said Chuck Sutton, who delivered the presentation for the committee and is also the Vice President of Polysilicon Sales and Government Relations at REC Silicon. “But they (said) they want the efficient use of taxpayer dollars. That is more important than smaller schools or neighborhood schools and stuff." 

Sutton said the recommendation comes after district residents provided feedback focused on responsible stewardship of the district’s money and had a strong desire for safe campuses and good education for students. To facilitate those needs, the committee recommended adjusting plans to maximize funding from the Washington School Construction Assistance Program (https://bit.ly/WASCAP).  

While voters initially approved a bond package in February 2017, Sutton said the committee's views had changed as the situation for the district had evolved. Many of the district’s schools are more than 50 years old, with the Frontier campus, initially a high school, built in 1947, and the Peninsula, Knolls Vista, North, Lakeview, Midway, Chief Moses – now Columbia Middle School – Moses Lake High School, Longview, Larson and Garden Heights campuses all built from 1950-1959. Frontier was remodeled from high school to middle school in 1959. That places the majority of the district’s campuses at about 65-75 years old. Given their age and maintenance needs, as well as the district’s property value standing, among other factors, the district is eligible for SCAP funding to repair or replace several of its campuses.  

To identify which campuses had the most need, Sutton said the Facilities Advisory Committee – made up of professionals like himself, parents, area residents, district staff and other community members – went to the campuses and evaluated them, scoring them based on their maintenance needs. Larson Heights and North elementaries, alongside Longview Elementary, scored the lowest, indicating the most severe need for maintenance or replacement. The geography of the city, with the lake and peninsula, carried weight in the recommendation as well. 

“We can move some things around, but when you get out to the north side of town, you can’t move people around as much on that,” Sutton said.  

Given that added concern, Larson Heights and North campuses were chosen for replacement with a campus that would not only serve their current student bodies but also allow for future growth. 

Moses Lake School District Director of Public Relations Ryan Shannon said in a follow-up interview that the recommendation would allow the district to more responsibly utilize its existing bond approval. He said simply building Elementary 12 in Mae Valley could be done but wouldn’t maximize assistance from the state through SCAP.  

“You have to look at what is the best cost savings for us to do and going through SCAP funding and looking to build newer buildings that are more energy efficient, and they cost less for us to maintain,” Shannon said.  

SCAP funding also helps keep the district from a revolving cycle of repairing outdated buildings, Shannon said. By eliminating two older campuses that take a lot of upkeep and cost more to operate due to less efficient HVAC and other systems, the district will save money in the long term.  

From a financial perspective, Sutton showed savings the district could realize if it went with the committee’s recommendation over its initial plan to build Elementary 12 in Mae Valley.  

Per the committee’s presentation, under the original plan, the district’s Capital Projects and General Fund would have about $7.7 million left from its current construction capacity. That includes a starting balance of $54.7 million, construction of Elementary 12 at about $40.2 million and maintenance costs from the General Fund for existing campuses at around $6.8 million. Combined, this would lead to a net balance of the Capital Projects and General funds of about $7.7 million. 

However, if the district follows the committee’s recommendation, the district would still get a new elementary school, but save money in the process, helping the district further recover from its financial concerns of the last few years. The district would build the new campus, still called “Elementary 12” but place it on district property that could serve the students at Larson Heights and North student bodies. One of the two campus sites could be sold for about $3 million, construction and maintenance cost savings of about $1.6 million would be realized, and the state would provide an estimated $20.9 million in SCAP funding. Savings on repairs of the two retired campuses would be about $6.8 million over time. That would leave a balance of roughly $45.2 million, as compared to the other scenario’s $7.7 million in the Capital Projects and General funds.  

The new campus, if the board moves to go forward with the recommendations, will include two gyms to help ensure students get their required PE hours and two cafeterias. Space for programs like Boys and Girls Clubs will be included as well. The overall design would be similar to Groff Elementary’s.  

Addressing concerns about the situation at Groff, Superintendent Carol Lewis said the problems at Groff are not design-related but rather associated with the quality of the workmanship the builder put into the building. She emphasized that the design itself is solid and dependable.  

Board Member Ryan Coulston said the Facility Advisory Board’s adjustments to plans from 2016 and 2017 make sense. The district’s needs have evolved since then, and the main goal is to make sure students have safe campuses that facilitate learning. That is particularly true given the district’s campuses’ depreciated value for students due to age. 

“Seven years ago, eight years ago, it did make sense to think about (Elementary 12), but now we’re so close to these depreciation schedules that it doesn’t make sense anymore,” Coulston said. “That’s why we see an $8 million finish versus a $45 million finish by utilizing state funds because of depreciation. In my mind, it’s not this bait-and-switch; it’s just we’re eight years down the road and the necessity is completely different.” 

    A four-inch-long pocketknife sits next to a sealed crack on the roof of an MLSD elementary. The roof has been repaired multiple times and is one more source of maintenance expenses for the district.