New high school is too expensive

Well it is that time again for the Moses Lake School Board to try to pass the most expensive school bond in the history of the Columbia Basin. It doesn’t matter that the voters have already voted it down twice before. It is always easier to keep running the same bond than to alter the cost or solve the crowding problem any other way besides building a second high school. I have been an educator for 36 years in three states at all levels, and the idea of two medium-sized public high schools in a town the size of Moses Lake seemed strange, so I thought I would research other similar-size towns with two public high schools. There is only one problem – there are none in the entire Northwest. There are two very simple reasons. First, mid-sized towns don’t like dividing the allegiance of their patrons if they don’t absolutely have to. The second obvious reason is high schools are very expensive to build, operate, and maintain. They are way more costly than middle or elementary schools. They require very large staffs including administrators that are not fully funded by the state. Support, technology, and maintenance personnel would have to be doubled. High schools are huge open spaces including gyms, locker-rooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, libraries, tech labs, etcetera that cost a fortune to heat, cool, and maintain. The future M&O levies would have to be increased greatly. We would have to double the budget for all extra-curricular activities which includes coaches, advisors, transportation, uniforms, equipment and facilities upkeep. Don’t forget all the extra sports fields and parking lots required. Just look at other communities like Wenatchee, Walla Walla, East Wenatchee, Post Falls, Lewiston, Sunnyside, Hermiston, Lake Stevens, Monroe, Shelton, Port Angeles, Mt. Vernon and many more that have just one public high school.

To me the best way to handle our overcrowded high school would be to do what Mead School District did in the 1980s before they got so big to have a second 4A school. They dropped their sixth grade to elementary level and dropped ninth grade to middle school. With a new elementary school and three middle schools with some portable classrooms, Moses Lake should also be able to save the taxpayers over $100 million. Yes the ninth-graders could still compete in the same sports and get the same credits for graduation. This bond is just ridiculously overpriced. Two public high schools in a town our size makes zero sense. Voters, please use common sense not just emotion when voting.

Scott Hudson

Moses Lake