Voters will decide this November on whether to pass a $97 million bond to maintain and repair schools in Redmond School District.

A large chunk of the funds raised will go into Redmond High School to repair its failing heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. The bond measure will not raise tax rates; it will replace a bond that expired in June.

Along with other projects, the bond measure is meant to raise the funds to repair Redmond High’s roof and 50-year-old HVAC system. The replacement of the hydronic system — which heats the school by circulating hot water in pipes — and parts of the school’s roof will cost around $19 million, said Charan Cline, superintendent. The HVAC system replacement would include asbestos abatement.

“The problem is the pipes that bring the water from the boilers to the heat exchangers are 50 years old. They’re as old as the building and they’re simply wearing out. The pipes are wearing out, the valves are wearing out, the fittings are wearing out, and its leaking water all over the place,” said Cline.

The boiler runs every hour of every day because if it is shut off, the pipes will shrink and cause more leaks.

In April, the district raised the possibility of permanently merging Redmond and Ridgeview high schools so the repairs could be made, then turning Redmond High into district office space. The district chose not to move forward with the plan.

The district is planning to bring portable classrooms to Redmond High so class can continue while the school is being repaired. The portable classrooms will cost $2.5 million and would be paid for by bond revenues, Cline said.

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Other items the bond measure would pay for include a career and technical education expansion and remodeling of the auditorium, band and choir classrooms, locker rooms, gymnasium, kitchen, commons and the art room at Redmond High. The career and technical education spaces include the construction, automotive, agriculture and manufacturing programs. Around 40% of the bond’s revenue would go into Redmond High.

“We’re very excited about the idea of expanding our career tech ed center out there,” said Cline. “Those programs are just expanding like crazy, kids want those programs.”

He estimated that the HVAC system and roof work could take place in the 2026-27 school year or the year after, adding that the planning alone could take a year. He hopes to complete the career and technical education spaces expansion first, so those spaces can be used during the repairs. The smaller projects will happen faster, he said.

Other schools

In addition to the work at Redmond High, the bond would pay for xeriscaping — low-water landscaping — at several schools, updated security measures, energy efficiency work, electrical upgrades, new fire alarm systems, new lighting, resurfacing for sports tracks and more. Every school would have work done with the funds raised.

“The Redmond School District is currently the largest user of water in the city of Redmond, and most of that’s about watering the grass,” Cline said. “We’re not going to take out the turf or the grass where kids play, it’s really the areas where kids are not playing. Parking areas, landscaping things, pieces of lawn that are just green and not used for anything, those are the areas we’re taking out.”

Tumalo Community School would expand from an elementary school to include grades six through eight.

“The families that go to school there really like that small school family experience they have there, but they often don’t transition out. Only about a third of them transition into our middle school in town here,” said Cline. “So we’re looking to create that K-8 to keep families there, continue to give them the unique experience in that area, and then we think people will transfer to Ridgeview (High) as part of that.”

M.A. Lynch Elementary will have an new bathrooms and rooms for independent living skills classes. Overall, Cline estimated there were around $300 million work of repair projects in the district.

Planning the measure

The district first asked facilities staff what work needed to be done, brought in several companies to do assessments and surveys of the buildings, then asked the rest of the district’s staff about potential projects. A community group came together and prioritized the large list of projects. The process took between five to six months.

Previous bonds measures paid for building Sage Elementary, Ridgeview High and Elton Gregory Middle School. Taxes for the current bond measure would not rise because the 2004 general obligation bond just retired in June, thus giving the district the opportunity to add new bonds without raising the tax rate.

“It’s a strategy that we planned for several years ago when we went out for bonds in 2020,” said Kathy Steinert, the district’s director of fiscal services.

The bond is expected to maintain the current rate of $2.26 per $1,000 of taxable assessed value. For the average homeowner in the district, this equates to $42.67 per month or $512.04 per year.

“There’s every chance the rate will be lower if the growth in taxable assessed values is strong,” said Steinert. “It’s planned for and thoughtful and we hope successful.”

The $27.5 million 2020 bond paid for work across the district, including roof replacement and installing secure vestibules at various schools. This bond measure is intended as the second part of the 2020 bond, said Cline.

If the bond doesn’t pass, the district will fix things that break as best they can. Cline said the district would likely go out for another, smaller bond measure.

Regardless, the situation at Redmond High is precarious.

{div}”We’re kind of rushing against the clock,” Cline said. “At some point, we’re going to have an extensive failure, something big is going to break. When that break happens — and it’ll probably on Dec. 14 in the middle of the worst cold snap we’ve ever had — when that break happens and if it’s the ceiling of the commons, which would then take all the asbestos down with it … the building would become unoccupiable for maybe a month.”

If this kind of crisis happened, Cline said Redmond High students would likely squeeze into Ridgeview while Redmond is repaired. More temporary classrooms are another possibility.

If the bond passes, a bond oversight committee will be formed to oversee the use of bond funding.

“Our community has invested a lot of money in these schools over time, this is about protecting that investment and making sure these schools last very well into the future,” said Cline.