Successful passage of the March 14, 2017 Bond Election in the Boise School District supports an Educational Facility Master Plan that is currently allowing the District to reinvest in our community's neighborhood schools. The 2017 Bond Election was approved by voters (86% yes vote). Work is now underway on five capital projects - rebuilding Amity Elementary School, rebuilding Whittier Elementary School, renovating Boise High's old gymnasium, expanding programs at the Dennis Technical Education Center and building an addition onto Timberline High School.
As a result of considerable community input and engagement, Board members approved a $172.5 million bond election (March 14, 2017) to fund a 10-year Educational Facilities Master Plan. During the Board meeting held on Monday, November 14, 2016 (when the Board voted to approve the 2017 Bond Election) several parents and patrons testified in support of the bond.
The bond would put more than $155 million into 22 major capital projects, including building six new schools on their current sites, a new school in the Harris Ranch area, as well as expansion of the District’s Professional-Technical center to offer Electrical, Plumbing and Heating-Air Conditioning job training classes.
One of the schools to be rebuilt is Amity Elementary. Built in 1979, the school’s design, including sod on the side and roof has created serious structural issues.
Parents from Pierce Park Elementary and Valley View Elementary also provide supportive testimony.
Click on the following video images to hear from the five people who testified to the Board on November 14, 2016.
Serves as a clear reflection of our community's commitment to high-quality neighborhood schools.
Provides direction for the District on how best to meet our most pressing facility needs regarding poor condition, overcrowding and improving educational adequacy while ensuring every school receives attention.
Puts the District on a path that will allow us to make significant facility improvements today while preparing for the educational needs of students well into the future.
Represents a thoughtful balance between hard data, demographic and enrollment projections and the input from parents, patrons, staff and students.
During this special Board meeting, a number of District residents, including those with and without students in the District, testified in support of the Educational Facilities Master Plan.
Community input is an important component to educational facility master planning. The public process of evaluating Boise School District's educational facilities began in earnest in the Fall of 2015.
The approved Educational Facilities Master Plan was the result of a 13-month public process that involved a number of public meetings with more than 5-hundred participants and two online surveys that generated 2,500 responses from community members regarding the future of District facilities. The process was lead by the nationally recognized facilities planning firm of DeJong-Richter.
Following is a timeline with further information about the Educational Facilities Master Planning public process that was followed by the Boise School District.
On October 26, 2015, the District held an Educational Visioning & Futures Conference involving educators, students, parents and community members who gathered to look at the current state of Boise Schools and engage in conversation regarding the process of the facility master plan, national trends in education, how to look forward for the education of our students and also discussing educational topics that directly impact our children.
There were 80 attendees at the conference from different organizations throughout the community. Attendees completed two activities during the meeting, the first being a group activity where participants worked together at tables to come up with the largest challenges for the district. During the second activity, participants worked at tables to complete a questionnaire. The input provided by the attendees is an important part in developing the final facility master plan. Many topics were discussed at the meeting, including the learning process, global demographics, the future of education, technology trends, innovative ways of teaching, the history of school facilities and environmental trends.
What are the biggest educational challenges Boise School District will face in the next 10-20 years?
What do you believe should be the priorities of the updated facilities planning process?
Click here to review the presentation presented by Tracy Richter, CEO, DeJong-Richter.
Beginning the week of February 29, 2016 teams from DeJong-Richter toured every building in the Boise School District. These walkthroughs took at least two weeks to cover all of our schools. The teams consisted of two people from DeJong-Richter and at least one member from the District's Facilities and Operations Department. The following brief video explains the purpose of these facilities walkthroughs.
In August, 2016, two Facility Master Planning Community Dialogue Sessions were held - August 30th (Cynthia Mann Elementary) and August 31st (Whitney Elementary) - where hundreds of parents, residents, community partners and educators gathered to discuss the future of schools in the District.
The purpose of each community meeting was to discuss the results of data collected by DeJong-Richter and to ask patrons to provide feedback as to how to prioritize the facility needs of Boise Schools in the development of the 10 year facilities master plan. Click here to review results of a survey from the Community Dialogue Sessions held in August and from the survey that was also posted online.
Click here to review the PowerPoint Presentation presented at the August Community Dialogue Sessions by District Superintendent Dr. Don Coberly and Tracy Richter of DeJong-Richter. Click here to review the data sheets handed out at the sessions.
The following video is of the session held at Whitney Elementary School. In this video, Dr. Coberly and Mr. Richter explain the Facility Master Planning process and share important data with parents, residents, community partners and educators as part of soliciting public comment to help prioritize identified facilities needs in the District.
On October 17, 2016 another Community Dialogue session was held at Capital High School where DeJong-Richter presented a summary of results from the first Community Dialogue sessions which took place on August 30th and 31st, 2016 and to review the Draft Facility Master Plan, which was the result of the community input received.
During the October 17th public meeting, Tracy Richter from DeJong-Richter reviewed the draft Facility Master Plan and then asked participants to complete a questionnaire regarding the draft Plan.
A video of Mr. Richter's presentation, along with a brief opening presentation by Superintendent Dr. Coberly, are provided below.
After the October 17th public meeting, a survey regarding the draft Facility Master Plan was then posted online for public input. Click here to review results of the survey from the Community Dialogue session held on October 17, 2016 and also results from the survey that was posted online.
On November 1, 2016, Board of Trustees of the Boise School District held a special Board meeting to receive a presentation about the draft Facility Master Plan from DeJong-Richter's Alex Boyer. At that meeting, the Board accepted and approved the Facility Master Plan as presented to serve as the foundation for the District's 10-year Facility Master Plan.
Then, on November 14, 2016, Board members unanimously voted to present a $172.5 million Bond Election to voters on Tuesday, March 14, 2017 that would support the 10-year Educational Facilities Master Plan. It should be noted the bond would not raise the current property tax rate.