SURREY – Voters in the Surrey Public School District narrowly defeated a $5.8 million bond issue measure Tuesday, June 9, that would have added classrooms to replace portables and make other repairs.

The measure required 60% for passage. It achieved 58.65%, according to unofficial results. The vote was 217-153.

According to information provided by the school to its patrons, the district had been working with architects and engineers over the past year to study facility challenges. Among them are:

– Portable classrooms installed in 2012 were intended to be temporary and are nearing the end of their lifespan. In 2024, the State Fire Marshal identified safety concerns with the connection between the main school building and the portable classrooms

– Portions of the building have aging windows, flooring, fixtures and ceilings that have not been updated in decades

– The roof has structural concerns under heavy snow loads.

In addition there are issues with stairs not meeting commercial building code requirements, guardrails and open risers that do not meet safety standards and wheelchair ramp slopes that exceed accessibility limits.

A community task force recommended replacing the aging portable classrooms with eight new permanent classrooms and building a new accessible, code-compliant connection to the main school building. The measure also allowed for other improvements.

The estimated cost is about $5.8 million, requiring 35.98 mills for 20 years. The estimated annual tax impact for the base project would be about $181 per year for $100,000 of residential property and $201 per year for $100,000 in agricultural or commercial property, according to district information.