Is it True?
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IS IT TRUE THAT MISD HAS "DECLINING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE" AND 1 in 4 STUDENTS FAIL MATH AND SCIENCE GRADE-LEVEL KNOWLEDGE? No.
The claim of declining MISD academic performance is not valid. The claim that 25% of MISD students are failing to meet grade-level standards per OSPI data is completely false. Using OPSI Data, the Math, Science, and English Language Arts (ELA) percentage of students below grade level hover around 5% for MISD, with 2-3 times that for Bellevue. Of course, we want all students to be achieving at or above grade-level. MISD identifies and provides students with additional support if they are not meeting grade-level knowledge. The Bond is for the buildings. Our students deserve secure, safe, compliant spaces to learn. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT APPROVING THE BOND WILL GIVE THE WRONG SIGNAL TO THE SCHOOL BOARD'S OVERSIGHT? No.
School Board Directors are elected by voters. If you have an issue with a School Board Director, use those elections. School Board Directors do not manage school construction. School Board Directors are prohibited from moving bond funds for other uses. Following best practices, MISD will be creating a separate line item for each Bond issuance, as bonds are sold when the funding is needed. Brandy Fox is the project manager and MISD representative for these projects. She will determine when funding is needed and when contractors are paid by the district. She has managed every major capital improvement for MISD schools since 1995, and every one of them has been on budget. The MISD students need secure, safe, compliant buildings with appropriate learning spaces; and opinion of the school board is not a reason to deny our outstanding students what they need. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT MISD HAS "DECLINING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE" INDICATIVE OF ENROLLMENT DECREASING? No.
The claim that fewer students are in the district because of declining academic performance is not valid. Between the 2018-2019 and 2024-2025 school years, enrollments have dropped in all Eastside school districts, except Lake Washington (LWSD) which increased by 1%. Note that districts with fewer students had a larger percent enrollment decline. Bainbridge is included because it is a comparable size to MISD. OPSI data. MISD and Private Enrollment data from MISD. Data doesn’t support an “exodus” of students leaving MISD to go to private school. Student’s families moving from district account for 50% of the self-reported reasons for withdrawing. There are years and grade levels when MISD gains students, as well as years and grade levels where both public and private lose students. It's absolutely true there are fewer students enrolled, and that is impacting both public and private schools. Note the enrollment data for students living on Mercer Island across MISD and private schools. There is no data showing a trend of leaving public to go private. The percentage attending private remains constant. The post-pandemic drop in student enrollment seen on Mercer Island has also been seen in neighboring districts. In early 2023, public school enrollment in the four-county Puget Sound region (King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties) was still about 23,000 students below where it was in October 2019, prior to the start of the pandemic. In King County, enrollment is about 13,000 fewer students than it was before the pandemic. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT THE BOND DOES NOT SHOW THE ENTIRE FUNDING PICTURE? No.
Piper|Sandler is the firm that serves as a financial advisor to the Mercer Island School District (MISD), assisting with bond-related financial strategies, planning, issuance, and compliance. All bond related data and analysis is transparent and available. Mercer Island school taxes are currently $1.44 (2025) and would increase to $1.89 (2026) with the voter's approval of the Bond. Mercer Island school taxes are currently the LOWEST on the Eastside. And, after the bond passed the school tax rate remains the LOWEST. MISD is demonstrating fiscal responsibility by - Keeping the Mercer Island school taxes the lowest on the Eastside, even after the bond passes. - Leveling the school taxes over time, providing predictability for taxpayers. - Refinancing existing debt to save taxpayers $1.5MM. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT THERE ARE FUTURE BONDS PLANNED FOR HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS? No.
The claim that the Long-Range Facility Plan includes future school bonds of $116MM in 2027, $136MM in 2029, and $150MM in 2031 is simply fabricated. Here's how planning works: multiple options are considered with cost estimates, and then an option is selected. That's likely the same thing you do for your own home projects. There were several options considered in order to hone in on the right plan over the last few years. Four scenarios were covered in the Long-Range Facility Plan, and Option C was selected for detailed costing as the bond proposal. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT THE BOND IS UN-FOCUSED AND NOT ACCOUNTABLE? No.
Mercer Island voters definitely want school bonds to be well-defined and right-sized. This bond has tightly defined scope, accountability to taxpayers with the same cost as the previous bond 11-years ago, and keeps our school taxes the lowest on the Eastside. Is the April 2025 Bond well defined? Yes. The scope is well defined, costed, and the timeline for construction has been planned. The April 2025 bond will provide a secure, safe, and compliant school environment for IMS and MIHS which all of our students enjoy. The bond includes studying and planning for what to do with the 3 aging elementary schools in the future. Is the April 2025 Bond right-sized? Yes. At $165MM, the bond is LESS in today’s dollars than the previously approved 2014 bond. The bond does not include all the things that the community wanted, rather it includes the high-impact, safety, and compliance related items that will serve every student in the district as they go through middle and high school. Plus, school tax rates REMAIN the LOWEST on the Eastside, even after the bond is passed. Mercer Island voters have rejected two bond proposals in the last 35-years. This Bond reflects what has been learned from voters: well defined and right-sized bonds are supported by voters. - The 1990 bond was extra large in scope and cost, and it was rejected by voters. After the 1990 failure, bonds were passed in 1993, 1994, and 1996 to do the scope in smaller more well-defined pieces. - The 2012 bond also extra large in scope and cost. It was to REPLACE the middle school, REPLACE ALL 3 elementary schools, and add 12-classrooms to the high school. After the 2012 failure, a 2014 Bond passed with a 74% approval by voters. The 2014 bond was right-sized to HALF of the middle school, a NEW elementary (Northwood), and 12-classrooms in the high school. The 2014 bond was $98.8MM, which is $172MM in today’s dollars. |
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IS IT TRUE THAT THE SCOPE OF THE BOND HAS NO DIRECT LINKAGE TO IMPROVING ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE? No.
The claim is that the scope of the bond doesn’t improve academic performance. That’s not true. Students can certainly learn in old buildings. However, students need to have buildings with functioning HVAC, fire alarm systems, and plumbing. It’s likely that everyone can agree on that. There are numerous evidence-based studies which do connect increased academic performance to the school learning spaces. Here’s a couple of the studies:
Students are learning differently these days. There are traditional classrooms in every building where a teacher lectures, and students listen. However, today’s learning is far more collaborative. Students are increasingly working together in small groups; and this Bond creates small, medium, and large spaces for that. Some spaces are very open and some small spaces allow for doors to be closed so that the kids can concentrate. The award-winning performing arts programs at MI Schools have been booming, yet the spaces reserved for choir, band, orchestra, etc. are far too small and poor acoustically. At IMS, kids are playing their instruments in the halls because they have no place else to go. The spaces for the sciences at both IMS and MIHS are also inadequate and insufficient for the volume of kids that want to be in those programs. For example, the robotics program has more students than the very limited space accommodates. The radio program now has over 150 students, and adequate space is needed. This Bond is for the buildings. Our outstanding students need spaces to learn. |
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Get your questions answered
If you'd like to see a question added to this list, please email us at [email protected]
For more detailed information on the bond, please visit the Mercer Island School District website.
For more detailed information on the bond, please visit the Mercer Island School District website.