Local schools receive construction money

Two Clark County school districts are among 28 statewide that will receive a portion of almost $317 million in capital construction money from the state.

State Superintendent Randy Dorn released the list of school projects Thursday.

The 28 districts are ready to begin or continue work on 39 new school buildings or school modernization projects. Hockinson School District will receive $7.7 million in state capital construction money to replace Hockinson Middle School. Washougal School District will receive $5.1 million to replace Jemtegaard Middle School.

The state money will be coupled with almost $748 million in local school district funds generally available by capital bonds approved by voters in communities. Together, the state and local money will bring more than $1.1 billion into the state’s economy through school construction.

In Hockinson, voters in 2015 approved a bond to replace the middle school, which was built in 1953. A new school on the north end of the existing campus is expected to open in January 2018, after which the current building will be repurposed for warehousing, storage and administrative functions, according to the district’s website.

In Washougal, the Jemtegaard project is part of a comprehensive list of improvements approved by voters in 2015 and funded with $57 million in capital improvement bonds. Plans call for rebuilding the middle school and adding an elementary school on the same site to house students, some of which have been meeting in portable classrooms. Construction is expected to conclude in 2018.

“Maintaining and updating school buildings is a partnership between the state and school districts,” Dorn said.

Determining factors for funding include student enrollment, assessed property values and existing inventory.

The state’s school construction assistance program also includes about $1.1 million to pay for public art allocations at new facilities.