Central Valley School District is getting ready to put in motion a long-range capital facilities plan that tentatively calls for more than $400 million in projects over the next 25 years, including construction of new high, middle, and elementary schools.

The plan envisions seeking voter approval of five construction bond packages—spread four to seven years apart—to fund the bulk of the cost of those projects, with state matching funds expected to cover the rest. The district's board last week voted 5-0 to put on the Feb. 8, 2011, ballot the first of those bond packages, which would be for projects with a total estimated cost of $102.4 million. Property owners in the district would cover an estimated $69.6 million of that cost through higher property taxes.

Projects that would be covered in that initial funding package include the construction of a new elementary school and the modernization and expansion of Opportunity and Chester elementary schools, at 1109 S. Wilbur Road and 3525 S. Pines, respectively, and Evergreen Middle School, at 14221 E. 16th. Also included in that package would be modernizations of Ponderosa and Greenacres elementary schools, at 10105 E. Cimmaron Road and 17915 E. Fourth, respectively.

"I think the people of Spokane Valley, when you show them the need and are accountable for the dollars you bring in, will support it," says district Superintendent Ben Small.

This is the first time the district has put together such a detailed, long-range capital facilities plan and, though it will be revised on an ongoing basis as enrollment changes warrant, Small says, "I think people want to see a plan and want to see us being cognizant" of long-range facilities needs.

A community-based, 18-member capital facilities planning committee developed the plan after analyzing district growth and enrollment projections, assessing the condition of the district's current 24 facilities, and gathering input through surveys and three community forums.

The district's board adopted the capital facilities plan and a four-year strategic plan in late June, culminating months of planning and research. Small says organizers looked at what had worked well at other school districts, such as Spokane and Mead, as they began putting the plan together. Central Valley's facilities plan somewhat mirrors a 25-year plan Spokane Public Schools launched seven years ago that put capital project bond elections on a regular cycle.

The idea was to enable the Spokane district to protect its property investment by staying abreast of facilities needs while stabilizing facility-improvement funding and avoiding springing big funding-need surprises on taxpayers. It also provided the district the flexibility it needed to adjust project priorities, while giving the public the opportunity to review the district performance in accomplishing what it said it would accomplish within a specific timetable and budget, district officials said.

Similarly, Small says the message to Central Valley taxpayers is, "You should hold us accountable to the plan."

The big question that remains, though, is whether property owners in the district are willing to take on any added tax burden, given the Spokane area's still slumbering economy and continuing concerns about jobs and the future.

"What we're hearing from people we've been talking to about this is, it's time," says district spokeswoman Melanie Rose, citing continuing enrollment growth and public awareness of the need for major long-term facility upgrades.

One of the challenges for the district will be mustering the supermajority 60 percent voter approval needed for each of the bond measures to pass. The district's last three construction bond elections, two in 2006 and one in 2003, for amounts ranging from $25 million to $75.7 million, all had better than 50 percent support, but failed because they couldn't reach the 60 percent mark.

Property owners in the Central Valley School District currently pay a school construction bond tax rate of $1.48 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which is down substantially from more than $2 per $1,000 of valuation between 2000 and 2005 and from a peak over the last 10 years of $2.13 in 2004.

However, the district estimates that 2011 bond measure, if approved, would push that rate to $2.30 per $1,000, where it would remain for several years, then jump to $2.57 for two years before dropping back to $2.30 toward the end of this decade.

Small acknowledges that it would take a sizable jump initially, but says the district's intent will be to maintain a steady tax rate in later years.

Central Valley School District covers an 80-square-mile area between the city of Spokane and the Idaho border that includes much of the city of Spokane Valley, all of the city of Liberty Lake, and some unincorporated areas of Spokane County.

It employs nearly 1,500 people, ranking it among the county's largest employers, and serves about 12,300 students at one kindergarten center, 12 elementary schools, one "expeditionary learning" school, five middle schools, and three high schools.

The district estimates the largest of the projects in its initial bond package, the Evergreen Middle School renovation and expansion, would have a total cost of nearly $31 million, with the five other large projects each costing between about $12 million and $16 million.

The proposed new elementary school, expected to cost $15.6 million, would be constructed on a 16-acre site at Mission Avenue and Long Road. It would house up to 500 students and would ease crowding at Greenacres and Liberty Lake elementary schools.

Rose says estimated total costs of major projects grouped into the remaining four bond packages—tentatively envisioned to go to voters in 2015, 2022, 2029, and 2033—are in 2010 dollars and haven't been adjusted for inflation.

They show for now, though, a total cost of $146.1 million for major projects included in the 2015 package, $57.3 million in the 2022 package, $61.6 million in the 2029 package, and $35.2 million in the 2033.

Of the overall estimated cost of about $300.2 million for those four latter bond packages, property owners in the school district would be directly responsible for about $272.7 million, based on figures in the capital facilities plan.

Small emphasizes that all of the figures are tentative and could vary widely depending on the district's needs. He says the district is talking with Greater Spokane Incorporated to try to get a gauge for the number of jobs the projects are likely to create.

The district's focus is on providing quality facilities to meet students' educational needs, he says, but he adds that the projects themselves "can be a real economic stimulus for our community" as well.

The 2015 package is by far the largest because of the anticipated cost of nearly $83 million for construction of a new high school with a 1,600-student capacity and $38.5 million for reconstruction of North Pines Middle School, at 701 N. Pines.

The latter project potentially could involve relocating the middle school to a different site and selling the district-owned property along Pines Road, depending on enrollment and the population distribution at that time, the capital facilities plan says.

The largest listed project in the envisioned 2022 bond package is an estimated $22.8 million renovation and expansion of Horizon Middle School, at 39 15 S. Pines, while the biggest listed project in the 2029 bond package is an estimated $21.9 million renovation of Bowdish Middle School, at 2109 S. Skipworth Road. Also included in that package is $14.4 million for construction of another new elementary school.

The lone project listed in the 2033 bond package is the construction of a new middle school that's expected to be needed by then.

Spokane architectural firms ALSC Architects PS, Integrus Architecture PS, and NAC|Architecture and Coeur d'Alene's Architects West Inc. helped the district develop cost estimates for the projects.