Magendanz, a Tiger Mountain resident in Issaquah, launched the local campaign season days after state leaders offered a re-contoured legislative district and a little more than a week after the longtime incumbent, GOP state Rep. Glenn Anderson, opted against running for the seat in 2012.

“Much of the policy that affects our kids is not made in the district, it’s made down in Olympia. That’s where the funding for the most part is, and that’s where the major decisions are made as far as the future of education,” Magendanz said to business and education leaders gathered at the King County Library System headquarters in Issaquah.

“If we’re going to enact meaningful education reform, we need to have a voice down there in Olympia,” he added.

As a result of the newly drawn maps, if elected, Magendanz will not represent Sammamish in the Legislature. Although the vast majority of the city is now in the 5th District, once the new boundaries take effect, none of the city will be within the 5th.

The Issaquah School District will ask district residents to do so this April. At its last meeting of 2011 on Dec. 14, the Issaquah School Board unanimously passed a resolution supporting a more than $219 million capital bond issue. If passed, the bond money will provide funding for various building projects and school upgrades around the district for the next eight years.

Other bonds are expiring, so district taxpayers are in for a tax cut. Without the bond, residents will see their tax rate drop to $4.05 per thousand dollars of assessed value. If the bond is approved, tax rates will go to $4.42 — meaning the bond represents essentially a 37 cent tax increase.

Besides major projects proposed for Sunny Hills, Skyline, Issaquah Valley Elementary School, Issaquah Middle School and Liberty High School, the bond measure will fund district-wide improvements on carpet ($1.5 million) and security systems ($4.8 million), among other projects.

If passed, the district will spend $27.11 million to rebuild Sunny Hills Elementary School, which currently has 11 of 31 classrooms meeting in portables, according to the board’s approved bond proposal. The Skyline stadium upgrade will receive nearly $6.5 million, among other smaller improvements to the school facility.

The district will spend $1.3 million to install an artificial turf football field and rubber track at Pine Lake Middle School and will also put $95,000 toward converting the school’s photography darkroom into a video lab, according to the bond document. Pacific Cascade Middle School will also get $1.3 million for a new football field and track.

The district would also spend $2.1 million at Beaver Lake Middle School to install a new football field and track, add a covered play area ($350,000) and replace the current vinyl wall covering ($165,000).

The bond will also help replace roofing, skylights and flooring at Endeavour Elementary School. Discovery Elementary School will get about $443,000 to replace skylights and flooring.

The board voted in October to put the question on the ballot. At that point, board member Chad Magendanz voted against the issue.

Magendanz, elected board president Dec. 14, said despite his earlier vote, the bond issue has his total support. Magendanz said his earlier “no” vote was the result of a procedural issue, that he felt the board should have put off the final vote on floating the bond until a later meeting.

Replacing departing board member Jan Colbrese, board member Anne Moore had been sworn into office just a short time before the vote on a resolution supporting the bond. But Moore noted she served on the bond committee that came up with the original bond proposal. With that in mind, she said she is very familiar with the bond issue and, despite her newness to the board, was very comfortable voting to support the bond.

Kelly Munn, of Sammamish, is a co-chairwoman of Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, which will run the bond campaign. The school board initially planned to put the bond issue on a February ballot. Munn said her committee began to meet weekly in August to discuss the bond measure.

Still, those running the bond campaign are starting to put the groundwork for it in place.

In the meantime, the Issaquah School Board approved the ballot language for the measure at its regular meeting Nov. 9.

The question asks voters to approve the sale of bonds to support various capital improvement projects in the district. The projects listed in the actual ballot include the rebuilding of Clark Elementary and Issaquah Middle schools. The language also addresses the relocation and expansion of Tiger Mountain Community High School.

Those projects are the largest, and possibly most controversial, included in the bond package. In the original bond program proposed by Superintendent Steve Rasmussen, the total cost of the interrelated projects was given as $86 million.

The ballot language also mentions improving “districtwide heating/ventilation, space and security; make usability improvements to curricular/athletic fields and stadiums; and make other improvements.”

Athletic field improvements proposed for Skyline, Issaquah and Liberty high schools, along with artificial turf and new rubberized running tracks for district middle schools, is another plan likely to draw some criticism.

Kelly Munn is a co-chair of Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, which will run the bond campaign. The school board initially planned to put the bond issue on a February ballot; VIS asked them to postpone the public vote until April, allowing the committee more time to sell the issue.

Munn said her committee began to meet weekly in August.

“Right now, we are still in the building mode,” she said.

They are looking for volunteers to take on various tasks, such as organizing the printing and distribution of yard signs or campaign buttons. Munn said an important need is for someone to identify a teacher and a PTA representative from every building in the district, representatives willing to help promote the bond.

Munn said the committee also is trying to set a budget for the coming campaign. Planners have decided on their basic strategy, a decision that increased the price of the campaign.

The committee first considered what’s known as a “stealth campaign,” one aimed at people who promoters are certain will vote in favor of the issue and making sure those people cast their ballots, Munn said. An alternative approach attempts to sell the issue to the public as a whole. Despite the fact it is the more expensive — and probably the more difficult — of the two options, planners decided to go with the broad-based approach.

While the district cannot directly take sides in the campaign, school officials can provide information. Executive director of communications for the district, Sara Niegowski said she would place a link to bond information on the district’s website by the end of the month.

Reach reporter Tom Corrigan at 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

Brian Deagle and Suzanne Weaver, both incumbents, are still the best choices. Both have been board members through the tough economic times. While the budget for schools has fallen, student performance has not.

Deagle regularly makes his presence felt on the school board, asking the tough questions before casting a vote. In recent months, his probing of the proposed school bond over the course of three months led to some revisions and reduced costs. It’s the kind of challenge that citizens want to see in a representative.

Weaver has creative ideas for schools and is passionate about changes that will promote better education of our students. Her business background has been valuable to the board. She is an articulate, no-nonsense board member.

Challengers Pat Sansing and Brian Neville hold promise for future leadership roles in the school district, whether on the board or in another capacity. Their commitment seems genuine and we hope to see their involvement continue.

Bellevue resident Anne Moore is running unopposed for the District 1 seat being vacated by current board president Jan Colbrese.

“I will always be deeply invested in the Issaquah School District,” Colbrese said.

But after 12 years on the board, and after discussions with her husband, she decided it was time to move on. She further noted that all of her children have now graduated from district schools.

Colbrese announced her decision not to run in June, prior to the election filing deadline. Since then she was diagnosed with a serious illness.

Colbrese said she is well on the way to recovery, but that is another reason she is glad she decided to step aside.

District 1 covers an area of the district to the west of Issaquah and south to Coalfield and north to Lake Sammamish.

While board candidates run for specific geographic seats, voters from across the district cast ballots for all board members. Issaquah School Board members each serve four-year terms.

Moore described herself as no stranger to the district having served with the PTA and on various district committees for 14 years. Among other activities, Moore has served on various bond and levy committees, including the committee that made initial recommendations for the bond question that will be in front of voters in April. She said joining the school board feels like a natural progression of her past involvement with the schools.

Talking about the bond issue, Moore said she does not believe the schools have been lavish in their recent capital improvements or with the projects now under consideration. For example, Issaquah High as a whole was rebuilt in time for this school year.

“It was time to rebuild Issaquah High School,” Moore said. Talking about the school’s drama program, she said that in previous years Issaquah High productions were done on an inadequate stage in the student commons. Because they hoped groups from outside the schools might be able to use the facility, Moore said some community members lobbied for the new performing arts center to be larger than it is.

In general, Moore said her goals on the board will remain the same as they were when she served on various committees or in the PTA. In short, she wants to ensure that when students leave Issaquah schools, they are ready for whatever comes next, be that college or entering the job market.

“I think there is more we need to be doing in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math,)” Moore said.

As for the never-ending questions revolving around state funding of schools, Moore said she has worked in the past and will continue to work to adjust the levy lids that in her opinion hurt the property tax collections of the district especially when compared with surrounding districts.

In another vein, Moore said she knows of at least one issue every district in the state eventually will need to deal with. At present, Washington education officials are running pilot programs in several districts across the state, looking at new and different ways to evaluate teachers and principals, Moore said.

At 49, Moore still has children in district schools. Now a stay-at-home parent, she previously spent 12 years as an electrical engineer for IBM.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

Organized by The Issaquah Press, sister publication to the Sammamish Review, and moderated by Publisher Debbie Berto, the forum attracted candidates for the Issaquah School Board and Port of Seattle Commission.

The candidates, gathered at the King County Library System headquarters in Issaquah, answered questions in 40-minute sections organized by race.

The forum occurred days before King County Elections mails ballots, and as many voters start to pay attention to the off-year election. Election Day is Nov. 8.

In the school board election, incumbents Brian Deagle and Suzanne Weaver face challengers in the nonpartisan races.

Deagle, a Sammamish resident, faces challenger Patrick Sansing, a Sammamish resident, for the Director District No. 3 seat. Weaver, a Sammamish resident, faces Issaquah resident Brian Neville to retain the Director District No. 5 seat.

Bellevue resident Anne Moore is running unopposed for outgoing board member Jan Colbrese’s post.

In addition to proposals, school board candidates offered a veritable alphabet soup to describe involvement in local education efforts. PTSA and VIS, or Volunteers for Issaquah Schools, factored into candidates’ statements at the forum.

The questions during the forum’s school board portion focused on improving school experiences for students and maintaining a high-achieving school district despite near constant cuts from Olympia.

The incumbents, Deagle and Weaver, said Issaquah School District officials trimmed unnecessary expenses, or “low-hanging fruit” in Weaver’s description. Future cuts could impact students more acutely in the classroom.

“What it comes down to in the short term, it’s staff,” Deagle said. “The largest expense for the district is teachers. In the short term, unfortunately, that’s the only lever we can pull. In the long term, it will be a different approach to serving the kids.”

Sansing said district leaders should instead consider trimming administrative costs if state legislators hand down additional cuts in the months ahead.

“That’s got to be the place that we continue to look first,” he said. “I don’t want to look first toward the schoolroom.”

How to better serve students inside and outside of the classroom dominated the school board candidates’ discussion.

Neville said the district could do a better job to serve students uninterested in a traditional college education after high school. The proposal came in response to a prompt from the moderator: “Complete this sentence: The one area of our schools that should receive more attention is…”

“Issaquah School District certainly place a lot of focus on college prep, which is understandable,” he said. “I think most parents, probably, in the Issaquah district probably expect their kids to go to college. However, an area that I feel is somewhat lacking is the vocational side as well as on the arts, potential viable alternatives to the college prep track.”

Neville’s opponent, Weaver, said district schools should focus more on “the students who don’t fit the mold in high school.”

“I think we have a greater number of kids who, I guess you could say they underachieve,” she said. “They’re not achieving at their potential. They kind of fit in the traditional high school, but they need something more. They need more hands-on opportunities. They need more things that will give them exposure to careers and other types of paths that they might take.”

In September, school board members delayed sending a proposed bond — a $219 million package to fund construction and upgrades at schools across the district — to the electorate from February to April. Questions arose about using bond dollars to fund improvements to stadiums at Issaquah, Liberty and Skyline high schools.

“I would say these are not Cadillac stadiums, but I’d say they’re also not Pintos,” Weaver said. “It’s important to spend a certain amount of money to build things well.”

Sansing said the stadiums at the high schools serve a key component in surrounding communities, because the facilities serve more than sports teams.

“I think that they are not only a school resource but a community resource,” he said. “There are many groups that use our stadiums, and I think that it’s important for them to be able to do so. I also think that the education that you receive outside of the classroom is just as important as the education you receive inside of the classroom.”

Questions for the Port of Seattle Commission candidates closed the forum.

In the nonpartisan commissioner race, Democrat Dean Willard, a Sammamish resident and onetime state House of Representatives candidate, faces Republican incumbent Bill Bryant.

Richard Pope is challenging incumbent Commissioner Gael Tarleton. (Pope did not attend the forum.)

The discussion focused on the economy and the environment — major issues at the agency responsible for the Port of Seattle and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“At the Port of Seattle, we’re proving that we can rise to what I think is the challenge of time — to generate jobs while protecting the environment,” Bryant said.

Despite a recent turnaround for a once scandal-plagued agency, Willard said more progress is needed to create jobs and clean up damage to the environment related to trade.

“There are too many people that work at the port that don’t have family-wage jobs,” he said. “Far too frequently, the environmental damage that’s caused by economic activities are borne by those who are least able to bear them.”

Tarleton, regarded as the commission’s expert on security, tackled a question about the balance between security and convenience at the airport.

“Our job is to make sure that people can move through that airport safely and securely, with minimum hassle,” she said. “Now, we all want to get rid of pat downs. We all want to get rid of the hassle of walking through a security system that feels like you’re a salmon swimming upstream. Then, suddenly you reach that choke point and you’ve got to climb that ladder and you hope you get to the other side. I’m working on that.”

“I’m deeply connected to the community,” he said.

Neville spent five years on the volunteer board of the Seattle-based non-profit Community for Youth. The group’s aim is to help struggling or at-risk high school students. Neville he hopes to continue his service to young people but wanted to find an opportunity on the Eastside. That was when he decided to try for the local school board.

“I want to just jump in and do something impactful,” Neville said, adding he has three priorities regarding Issaquah schools. The capital improvement bond voters are being asked to approve in April makes the top of the list. The current board originally planned to run the bond issue in February, but the citizen committee promoting the bond asked for more time to convince voters.

Neville believes the board and other school officials need to do a good job of selling the need for the bond to the public. Neville noted a major school operating levy expires in two years and he said that fact needs more discussion that it has received. He said the district can’t afford to ask voters for too much.

“We can’t go to the well too often,” Neville said, adding the expiring operating levy accounts for one-fourth of district revenues.

Other issues on Neville’s mind include revamping how the district completes teacher evaluations and optimizing student curriculum. He described the first issue as a “very tricky thing.” The current board has discussed the issue, Neville continued, but said that discussion needs to be revived and expanded.

Regarding the curriculum of Issaquah schools, Neville said he doesn’t see any particular problem. But he also feels there is always a potential for improvement.

Overall, Neville wasn’t highly critical of the current board or school administrators. But he added he doesn’t like the idea of people running unopposed for political office, arguing that competition is a good thing for the district and for voters.

District 5 includes the northwest corner of Issaquah around Lake Sammamish as well as parts of the city of Sammamish. Although board candidates run for a specific geographic seat, voters from across the district cast ballots for all Issaquah school board members. Members are elected to four-year terms.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

“It’s work that I enjoy and I want to continue doing it,” Weaver said of serving on the board.

Holding the District 5 seat, Weaver is being challenged in the November elections by Issaquah resident Brian Neville.

District 5 includes the northwest corner of Issaquah around Lake Sammamish as well as parts of the city of Sammamish. Although board candidates run for a specific geographic seat, voters from across the district cast ballots for all Issaquah school board members. Members are elected to four-year terms.

Even as she praised the district for keeping students center stage even in a time of massive financial distractions, Weaver said leaders need to deal with those financial hurdles.

“It’s frustrating,” Weaver said. “Every time we start to deal with an issue and make some headway, we suddenly have to figure a way to pay for it.”

As one example, Weaver pointed to discussions about closing the achievement gap that historically has affected minority students, adding that is an issue that is not going to just go away. But, again, neither are financial constraints.

“I don’t think Olympia is going to make it easier any time soon,” Weaver added regarding school finances.

While at least one board member expressed concern the public may perceive that school officials have been aiming too high regarding capital improvements, Weaver doesn’t think that is the case.

“I think our community has high standards,” Weaver said, adding that is exactly is as it should be. While the completed reconstruction has been getting some attention, Weaver said work at Issaquah High School came in under budget.

“It’s a beautiful facility,” Weaver said, stating higher quality facilities do not cost that much more than serviceable buildings and probably save the district money in the long run. She added the school serves more than one purposes for the community, but obviously, especially students.

“It’s not just reading, writing and arithmetic… I think we got a lot of bang for our buck,” she said.

Weaver’s website lists what she believes to be some of her accomplishments since joining the school board. The hiring of Superintendent Steve Rasmussen in July 2008 tops the list.

Other achievements claimed include the repurposing of dollars to pay for expansion work at Issaquah and Skyline high schools. That work allowed the district to revamp the Pacific Cascade campus into a full-fledged middle school, relieving what Weaver describes as overcrowding at other facilities.

Visit Weaver’s website at www.weaverforschoolboard.com.

Tom Corrigan: 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.

The forum is meant to offer voters a chance to learn about local candidates as the clock ticks down to Election Day. King County Elections is due to mail ballots to voters in late October. The forum starts at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the King County Library Service Center.

The forum is not a debate. Candidates offer opening statements to the audience and then answer a series of questions from reporters as Publisher Debbie Berto moderates the discussion.

Organizers also plan to collect questions from audience members for possible inclusion in the forum. The last question is reserved for candidates to quiz their opponents.

The forum includes candidates in contested and uncontested races.

In the school board races, incumbents Brian Deagle and Suzanne Weaver face challengers in the nonpartisan races.

Deagle, a Sammamish resident, faces challenger Patrick Sansing, a Sammamish resident, for the Director District No. 3 seat.

Weaver, Sammamish resident, faces Issaquah resident Brian Neville for the No. 5 seat.

Bellevue resident Anne Moore is running unopposed for outgoing board member Jan Colbrese’s post.

In a nonpartisan Port of Seattle commissioner race, Democrat Dean Willard, a Sammamish resident and onetime state House of Representatives candidate, is running against Republican incumbent Bill Bryant.

Issaquah City Council candidates will also appear.

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“I think we have good schools,” Sansing said. “But I think they are not good enough. I really think we can do better.”

District 3 covers the north end of the school district including parts of Klahanie and parts of the portion of Sammamish included in the Issaquah School District. Although board candidates run for a specific geographic seat, voters from across the district cast ballots for all Issaquah school board members. Members are elected to four-year terms.

In terms of improving the schools, Sansing several times referred to officials needing to identify “the next big thing, the next big idea in education.” In many areas, Sansing believes a lack of ideas has led to a certain stagnation in the district.

For example, on 10th-grade, standardized-writing tests, Sansing said Issaquah district scores have remained high and very steady over the years.

“Our schools are good schools and will continue to be good schools, but let’s find that next thing that makes a difference, that leads to improvement,” he said.

Sansing admits he does not know what that next big thing might be, but said the school board needs to get ahead of the curve and act now.

Sansing also said Issaquah officials need to show more leadership in other areas. He is highly critical of what he sees as the current board’s lack of long-term financial planning.

“We need to think strategically about the levels of funding and we need to project that out into the future,” he said.

The school board hammered out the final pieces of a capital improvement bond issue at their most recent meeting Sept. 28. Sansing has not opposed the bond, but said officials must put the measure into a larger financial context.

“My view is at the same time a bond is proposed, communicate a long-term financial strategy,” Sansing said on his election Facebook page. “Think about the big picture and communicate when the next bond will be and about how much.”

Sansing further said school officials need to spell out their strategy to deal with likely cuts in state funding.

“We should make our decision with all the facts and future plans, not just on the merits of only this bond,” Sansing said.

As a college student, Sansing served on a state education board in California. He said he was nominated by that state’s governor to continue serving after he graduated, but in the end wasn’t selected.

Visit Sansing’s election webpage at www.patricksansing.com.

Reach reporter Tom Corrigan at 392-6434, ext. 241, or tcorrigan@isspress.com.