2025 School Bond

The 2025 Mercer Island School Bond:

  1. is too expensive

  2. has too many “nice to haves”

  3. fails to address declining academic performance

TOO EXPENSIVE

  • In 2026, the first full year of the bond, the median assessed ($2.2MM) homeowner’s local school taxes will increase 40%

  • Marketed as $165,000,000, the bond’s true taxpayer cost with interest is $231,000,000

  • The district projects an additional $248,000,000 in future bonds for elementary schools over the next 4 to 12 years

  • Do not be misled by “low tax rate” claims! High MI home values mask the burden. MI rates are low because our home values are high. If this bond passes, MI will pay well over $1,000 more per student than Bellevue, Bainbridge Island, Issaquah, and Bothell, and $900 more than Redmond

TOO MANY “NICE TO HAVES”

IMS: $99,492,050

  • Connect core to “build community and reduce stress”

  • 2nd Commons to “enhance collaboration and creativity”

  • Expand exterior learning with “sheltered exterior areas”

  • Courtyard to “provide safe access to nature”

  • Multi-purpose assembly area, begging the question, what is used now for assemblies?

  • Premium “biophilic design” What is BIOPHILIC DESIGN? More on BIOPHILIC DESIGN…

  • A/C for a facility in the NW not used in the summer

  • Update gym finishes… not a capital project

MIHS: $56,723,626

  • Landscape courtyard as “usable learning space”

  • Provide shared learning and meeting spaces for students and staff

  • Relocates programs

  • “Update floor, wall, and ceiling finishes”…not a capital project

  • Remodel stadium bathrooms

  • Provide “inclusive and accessible” facilities for student storage and changing

  • “Improve coaching and team meeting spaces”

  • “Revitalize materials, acoustics, equip and lighting in gym and theater”…not a capital project

  • Provide “inclusive restrooms for all students and visitors” in commons

ADMIN BUILDING: $5,884,325

  • Modify parking lots

  • Improving ADA access in ADA accessible two-story building

  • “Rain garden landscaping to create landscaped area at Crest entry”

2024 Concept Design: reimbursing Cap/Tech Levy $1,450,000

DECLINING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

  • 1 in 4 students are not on track for college-level math and science learning without remedial classes [i]

  • US News and World Report rank MISD 7th in the state behind Interlake, Newport, and Bainbridge Island

  • The same US News and World Report documents only 56% of students are ready for college

  • Over 560 Island students have left the school district and with them their funding

  • An anecdotal feeling of loss of focus on academic achievement with a drop from 68% to 59% of parents who agree “This school is doing a good job of preparing students for a successful future.”

The “dance” we Islanders play is for the District to swing for the fence only to be rejected for more accountable bonds.  This is what played out when Islanders rejected school bonds in 1990 and 2012 for more focused and accountable bonds in 1993, 1994, 1996, and 2016.

Rejecting this initial bond sends a strong message to the Board that their oversight and leadership must be improved.

Moody’s Rating downgraded the District’s bond rating from:

  • Aaa to Aa1 in 2022 and

  • Aa1 to Aa2 in 2024 [viii]

  • Since AY-2019, G/F spending increased 21% while enrollment decreased by 14% [ix]

  • Since AY-2019, G/F reserves depleted from 9.9% in 2019 to 3.6% today [x]

  • Board member social media posts do not set a good example for our students

[i] https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/100146

[ii] https://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/100146 & 43 Off-Island Nonresident Enrollment added to OSPI’s reported enrollment decrease.  https://go.boarddocs.com/wa/misd/Board.nsf/files/DDV5UX11FFE5/$file/2024-2025%20Nonresident%20Enrollment%20Update_Rev.pdf

[iii]Parents opinion in the District preparing students for the future decreased from 68% in 2023 to 59% in 2024 https://www.mercerislandschools.org/programs-and-services/student-learning-services/district-surveys

[iv] See Piper/Sandler 12/13/24 Bond Planning Presentation p.7 annual property taxes on the 2024 median assessed value home is 2025: $3,191  2026: $4,473 a 40% increase

[v] P317 slides 11&12 of the MISD Long-Range Facilities Plan 2023/24 Update https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1708116902/mercerislandschoolsorg/iunufum8xecvd5bs9xyj/240111MISDLRFPUpdateforBoardStudySession.pdf

[vi] Data analyzed from Comparable Districts from Piper Sandler 10/24/24 Bond Planning Presentation p.29 Student Enrollment from State of Apportionment Report Jan 31, 2025.  See Chart at bottom of  https://www.miforss.com/2025-school-bond

[vii] https://www.moodys.com/credit-ratings/King-County-SD-400-Mercer-Island-WA-credit-rating-600039351/summary

[viii] See MISS white paper: Reserve Level and Credit Ratings v.1/Reserve Levels

[ix] See MISS white paper: Reserve Level and Credit Ratings v.1/GF Analysis

[x] See MISS white paper: Reserve Level and Credit Ratings v.1/Reserve Levels