Tahoma School District officials nixed the idea of a spring bond measure to raise money for structural improvements around the district.

The Tahoma School Board decided to postpone the measure at its Jan. 13 meeting. It would have been used to raise money to replace roofs, siding and heating and ventilation systems, as well as add more classroom space at both the junior and senior high schools, among various other projects around the district.

After surveying 422 voters over the phone while considering placing the measure on the ballot, the school board members saw that while there is strong community support for such a bond measure, those surveyed said that it would be better to wait until 2010 or later.

At this point, the board decided that asking taxpayers to approve a multi-million dollar bond measure during an economic slowdown is not in the community’s best interest.

The board also looked at the latest demographic information that helps predict enrollment growth. The report indicates that enrollment is slowing, due to reduced home construction in Maple Valley. Home-building, and enrollment increases, are expected to pick up as the economy recovers.

Last summer Kevin Patterson, spokesman for the district, told the Reporter that the bond measure was also an effort to plan for the future with enrollment peaking in about 10 years.

District officials said the board left the door open to consideration of either a phased bond measure, which would divide projects into two parts that would require two bond measure elections held several years apart, or a capital projects levy. The levy would be collected over six years but would pay only for a fraction of the projects that could be included in a bond measure.

Patterson said that the board will re-evaluate the options for the bond measure at a retreat in February.

A committee of school district residents and employees, called the Community Relations Committee, has worked for more than a year to identify projects that would be included in a bond measure.