Voters rejecting Yelm, Pioneer bonds

ALMA D. SHARPE, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Wednesday, February 6, 2002

TUMWATER -- The $12.9 million Griffin School District construction bond was narrowly passing Tuesday night, but voters rejected bonds in two other South Sound districts.

The trend was against building bonds in the Pioneer and Yelm school districts.

Griffin bond

Tuesday's last ballot count gave Griffin School District's bond enough votes for passage, with a 60 percent approval rate.

State law requires that all school construction bonds and operations levies pass with a 60 percent supermajority.

But this election isn't over.

Late-arriving absentee ballots will be counted Thursday.

"We're feeling pretty optimistic," Griffin Superintendent Harry Carthum said. "What this clearly shows is the majority of voters in the Griffin School District believe it is important to proceed with this remodeling and construction project."

The $12.9 million bond is intended to improve Griffin's elementary and middle schools.

Yelm bond

In Yelm, plans to build a new junior high school and renovate McKenna Elementary are on hold.

Thurston County results showed the bond getting 54.5 percent of the vote, well below the 60 percent needed to pass.

Superintendent Alan Burke said he understood that residents are watching their pocketbooks, but schools' needs won't decrease.

"We're going to have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do next," Burke said. "The bottom line is that we're growing, no matter what."

The $39.6 million bond would have paid for the construction of a junior high school that would take the high school's ninth-graders as well as eighth-graders from the middle school.

This would have given the high school room to grow.

Pioneer bond

Approval of Pioneer's bond looked like a long shot late Tuesday.

Of the votes counted as of Tuesday night, 48 percent were in favor, 12 percentage points from the supermajority needed for passage.

Pioneer officials had hoped that lowering their bond this year to $11 million from last year's failed $16 million bid would win voter support.

The bond would have paid for improvements to Pioneer Intermediate-Middle School.

On the Web:

- Thurston County Auditor: Election Results

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