CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misreported the total amount an additional levy would add to the overall Enumclaw School District property tax rate. If the public passes the 37 cent levy, the total property tax rate rises to $3.08. The article has been updated.

With its facilities aging beyond their lifespans and student populations outgrowing school buildings, the Enumclaw School District is continuing to search for funds that would address its ailments.

This includes an upcoming levy measure on the April special election ballot, but also a one-of-a-kind business proposition between Black Diamond’s Ten Trails’ developer Oakpointe and the district to potentially fund a new school.

ESD held numerous public meetings earlier this month to educate local voters about both topics and field questions.

THE LEVY

What could directly affect your wallet is a new property tax levy that is up for a vote in the April 22 election.

The levy, billed as a “capital projects” levy, aims to address 32 specific facility repair and upgrade projects around the district; according to Deputy Superintendent Jill Burns, the majority of the projects will focus on “the guts” of various buildings, like repairing or replacing HVAC and heating systems, but also replacing roofing, upgrading electronic access systems, and installing better radio and GPS tech in school busses.

For a full list of projects, head to enumclaw.wednet.edu/page/critical-maintenance-levy-2025.

Replacing heating systems may be especially on the minds of Byron Kibler Elementary parents and staff, as the heater inside school stopped working on Feb. 10; families were told to bundle students up, as the school day started with below-freezing (30 degrees) temperatures and temperatures in classrooms were in the low-60s.

This levy proposal was recommended by the community-led Facility Oversight for Capital Utilization and Sustainability (FOCUS) Committee, which spent all of 2024 looking at the district’s needs through the next two decades and found the district could no longer defer its “most critical maintenance” issues, especially on its oldest buildings: Byron Kibler Elementary and the J.J. Smith Early Learning Center are both more than 70 years old and have not received any major upgrades in decades; Enumclaw Middle School, Westwood Elementary, and Southwood Elementary are rapidly deteriorating despite routine maintenance, the district said.

The formation of the community committee was a direct result of two failed bond measures proposing new school facilities and district-wide upgrades in 2023, as a common theme throughout both bond campaigns was that local voters didn’t trust district officials to plan construction or spend tax dollars wisely.

In addition to the FOCUS committee, the district will be increasing its transparency online so voters can track how levy money is being used.

“As we have done previously, we will continue to communicate the progress of each project and its completion. The district plans to have this information and project photos available on our website and in district communications if the levy is approved by voters,” ESD’s Director of Communications Jessica McCartney said in an email interview. “Our goal is always to be transparent and communicate how local dollars are being used to support students and our system.”

Being proposed is an estimated 37 cents levy for every $1,000 in assessed property value (AVP) for four years; the levy would collect up to $3 million each year for a total of $12 million for the proposed projects.

On its own, the new levy would result in an annual tax bill of $222 for the average ESD property owner (with $600,000 in APV); that’s $18.50 per month.

However, the tax rate is expected to decrease over the lifespan of the levy because revenue collection is capped at $3 million per year. That means when assessed property values increase, or more taxpayers move into the area, the tax rate has to decrease in order to compensate.

But when you add the new levy to the total property taxes the district collects, the total tax rate rises from $2.71 to $3.08 per $1,000 in APV. Annually, that’s an increase from $1,628 to $1,848.

THE OAKPOINTE DEAL

There were two main reasons ESD ran bonds in 2023.

The first was to address the aging Byron Kibler Elementary and J.J. Smith buildings; the bonds would have funded construction of a combined building, but the district now hopes the aforementioned levy can help these buildings limp along until a future bond is approved by the community.

Overcrowding was the second issue, especially in the rapidly-growing Ten Trails neighborhood; even though the current Black Diamond Elementary School was built in 2017, it’s already outgrown its 430-student capacity, and 100 Black Diamond students are currently being bussed to Westwood Elementary — which is also reaching capacity.

Byron Kibler is also past capacity, and both Thunder Mountain Middle School and Enumclaw Middle School are getting full as well.

Overall capacity for all the elementary and middle schools is expected to be surpassed by 2027, even with additional portables installed this year.

Without community support for new facilities, the district had to look outside the box for a solution.

And that’s when Oakpointe stepped in.

The proposal is to sell a piece of land the district owns in Ten Trails back to the developer; that parcel was expected to be used for another high school, but current student projections show that Enumclaw High School’s student capacity won’t be reached for many more years; a swap could mean Enumclaw gets millions for school construction and Oakpointe gets more land for Ten Trails homes.

The current offer for the 42-acre parcel is $40 million. McCartney noted that while the actual value of the land is exempt from public disclosur, the current figure is above market value.

Oakpointe would also provide Enumclaw with an additional $25 million to compensate for various fees the district would have collected, were the district to retain control of the parcel.

But before a sale can occur, the district first has to make sure it can use $65 million to fund a school.

The district started a feasibility study in December 2024 to determine how expensive a new Black Diamond elementary school could cost, and the study will be released in March or April of this year.

If the study comes back showing a school cannot be sufficiently built with $65 million, or if there is no other method to bridge any funding cap, the sale will not occur, McCartney said.

According to the previous two bonds, the cost of a single elementary school landed between $70 and $80 million.

The FOCUS committee explored other ways the district could partially- or fully-fund new school construction, which includes selling other district property, securing grants, or find some sort of public-private partnership.