Spokane School District 81 has launched a facilities study to update a 1997 study that resulted in $104.5 million in improvements and construction projects for Spokane schools, says Mark Anderson, the districts associate superintendent for management services.


The study, which started last week after the school board authorized it in December, is needed because the district wasnt able to make all of the improvements in 1997 it believed were necessary, Anderson says. A $74.5 million bond issue that resulted from the earlier study was approved by voters in 1998. State matching funds provided another $30 million. With that money, the district accomplished many of its goals, such as renovating Lewis & Clark High School, building the new Browne Elementary School, renovating about half of Rogers High School, improving all high school science classrooms, and upgrading computer technology and high-speed networks districtwide.


The bond issue, though, was designed to pay for only the highest-priority projects, so funding ran out before many issues identified in 1997 could be addressed, including finishing the Rogers renovation; updating the 40-year-old Shadle Park High School; and possibly replacing the 1950s-era Lidgerwood, Lincoln Heights, and Ridgeview elementary schools.


ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, along with the districts Plant Department, is evaluating the conditions of the districts school buildings, and Hammond & Associates, a Spokane consulting firm, will meet with school faculties about needs for classrooms and other spaces.


District 81 hopes to have the facilities study completed by June, after which it will begin fiscal analysis for structuring bond issues, and will hire a cost consultant to make projections for high-priority projects, he says. The earliest that the school district might place on the ballot a bond issue to fund those projects would be March 2003.