Blaine school district is assembling a Community Facility Advisory Committee that will recommend to the school board whether it should go out for a bond, which would fund major capital facility improvements like an upgraded middle school.
Blaine Superintendent Dan Chaplik said the district was accepting applicants to the committee composed of parents, staff and community members. An application form is expected to be available on the district’s website, blainesd.org, by the end of the week.
“These schools are the community’s,” Chaplik said. “We will work hard to listen, interpret and understand the thoughts of the overall community and come up with a recommendation to the board that encompasses not only the district’s needs, but is also a reflection of what the community feels like they can and are willing to support.”
The committee is expected to make a recommendation to the school board by June 30, Chaplik said. If the board decides to pursue a bond, it would then direct staff to set an election date, with this November being the earliest option.
As part of the discussions, the committee will review facility improvements that the November 2024 and February 2024 bond proposals had set out to cover, including a $29 million upgrade to Blaine Middle School and $8.4 million upgrade to Pipeline Fields.
The bond also would have covered a $3.1 million roof above the tennis courts and $8 million in miscellaneous improvements, such as primary and elementary school upgrades and work to the future Birch Bay school.
Chaplik said he didn’t want to speculate on how much inflation may have increased the capital project cost estimates since 2024.
“That’s an ongoing challenge, not just for school districts, but for our citizens as well,” Chaplik said of the inflation. “That’s why we want to be very thoughtful and responsible on behalf of our community and taxpayers to make sure this is something people can get behind and feel good about. Whatever we do will be the community’s facility for years to come.”
Getting a bond to pass will be a hurdle for the district. The last bond requests the district put before voters in November 2024 and February 2024 garnered about 55 percent of support each – just short of the needed 60 percent supermajority. In addition, 40 percent of district voters in the previous November general election must participate in the bond election.
Following the November 2024 election, conversations increased around the state about whether a 60 percent supermajority was too high of a bond voting requirement, as Blaine wasn’t the only cash-strapped district that struggled to meet the threshold. Former superintendent Christopher Granger had said 12 out of 14 school district bond measures missed the supermajority mark in November 2024, according to previous reporting in The Northern Light.
In January of 2025, Senator Sharon Shewmake (D-Bellingham) was among state lawmakers to propose Senate Bill 5186 and Senate Resolution 8200, which would amend the state Constitution to lower the passing requirement to 55 percent for school bonds.
Both the bill and resolution were reintroduced during the first day of the Washington Legislative Session on January 12, but Shewmake said she didn’t anticipate the pieces of legislation would pass during this year’s short session. The bill and resolution weren’t moving, she said, and remained in the Senate Rules Committee as of February 11.
Shewmake said the change to the state Constitution needs a supermajority in the Senate and the House of Representatives to move forward, but it has reached an impasse without Republican support, despite compromises Democrats proposed.
“I think we’ll be continuing to have these conversations and talking with Republicans on why they should support it,” Shewmake said in an interview from the Senate floor. “I’m really worried about school funding. My top priority is education funding from pre-K to higher education.”
As for Blaine, Chaplik said his goal as superintendent was to better engage Blaine residents in conversations surrounding a bond.
“We want to listen and understand what they are thinking,” he said. “The schools belong to the community.”
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