A new roof, track, cameras: Nine Mile Falls School District seeks capital levy for Lakeside High School

Eyeing a leaky roof, a cracked track, noncompliant cameras and a busted boiler, Nine Mile Falls School District is asking voters to weigh in on a property tax levy.

To pay for construction and maintenance at Lakeside High School, the district sent a capital levy to April ballots. The levy would collect some $6.2 million over its five-year life, most of that paying to replace the 36-year-old high school's roof and a pair of boilers.

"Most of everything in that building is original from 1990," district Superintendent Jeff Baerwald said. "It's just like your home, right? You have to replace your furnace. You have to replace your roof. Those things happen over time, and so it's time."

The levy would tax property owners at an estimated rate of 58 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value. Considering other taxes Nine Mile property owners are paying to schools, passage of the levy would bring the district's tax rate to an estimated $2.90 per $1,000 in 2027. The district expects the mill rate to fluctuate between $2.94 and $2.97 in the remaining four years of the levy's life. Property owners are currently paying schools at a rate of $2.65, with 38 cents of that set to expire in 2027.

A team of architects, school employees and community members surveyed the high school, Baerwald said, and came up with a list of the most dire maintenance projects to address with the levy.

"We need to live within the building we have; we want to take care of it," Baerwald said. "We want it to be a place of pride for our community, for our kids. So it's just time."

The lion's share of the taxes generated would pay to replace the roof at the high school. It's an estimated bill of $2.6 million.

When Baerwald took over as Nine Mile Falls superintendent in 2020, the 11-year-old roof on the building sprung a leak into the school's wood shop and cafeteria, he said. An insurance assessor said it was engineered incorrectly, causing the asphalt shingles to crack and allowing rain and snowmelt to enter through screw holes. The district has since been patching leaks as needed, but the roof is in "dire need" of replacement, Baerwald said.

The next most expensive item on the district's list is replacing the high school's two boilers. This would use $900,000 from the levy, plus a $600,000 grant the district already has.

"We have original boilers from 1990; they've done more than serve their purpose," Baerwald said. "One of them has failed and it's not repairable."

Modern boilers would reduce energy costs to the district, Baerwald said.

Another $2 million in taxes would be spent to replace the school's heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls, the school's original system cracked and leaking air in places.

The sport with the highest turnout in the small school is track and field, Baerwald said, with 120 kids turning out for this year's season. That's about 20% of the school's enrollment.

Those kids race on a track that's beyond its lifespan, Baerwald said. The lamination is bubbling up in several places and cracks spread across all eight lanes.

"I'll be honest with you, I'm really worried about them getting hurt," Baerwald said.

Baerwald said a local physical therapist told him that he was treating more kids with shin splints and other running injuries due to the track's uneven surface.

The capital levy would remedy this, Baerwald said, sending $900,000 to replace the running oval.

"I worry about the health and safety of kids, first and foremost," Baerwald said. "And then having something that is presentable to them and to our community."

Passed in 2025, state law requires schools to have a camera system that law enforcement can access live in the event of an emergency. The district previously updated their security in its middle and elementary schools, but the high school has more cameras that compel levy funding to replace at an estimated cost of $200,000.

"Oftentimes it's high schools where a lot of bad stuff has a tendency to happen," Baerwald said. "Having some quality cameras there and access by law enforcement is important."

The levy would also direct around half-a-million dollars to buy a new portable classroom, replacing a condemned one from 1996 that dry rotted so much that the floor fell through, Baerwald said.

Another $200,000 would be spent to replace flooring at the high school, much of it original to 1990.

The same team that evaluated the high school considered proposing to voters a school bond to pay to replace that building. A $92 million price tag to do so, assuming over a decade of debt and the 60% voter approval needed to pass a bond deterred the group.

Instead, the district opted for a tried-and-true capital levy to pay for the most "dire" needs at the school, Baerwald said. It's the same strategy that funded construction on Lakeside Middle School in 2018. Levies need only a simple majority of voter approval to pass.

Baerwald said if the measure fails, the district will likely pare back the project list and rerun the levy with a smaller price tag and "just live with" the state the building is in.

Baerwald is "optimistic" the April levy will pass.

"It's taking care of what we have, and it's something that will hopefully last," Baerwald said. "We may have to do another capital levy down the road for some other items, but if we can go in at these low cost points on the tax side of it, it's more bearable for folks. That's really the goal, is just to keep people's tax bill down, but take care of our public schools."

Ballots are due April 28. Ballot boxes close at 8 p.m.

Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.