The failure of a bond measure in the The Lake Washington School District will be felt in the next school year in Sammamish. The district is planning to send Sammamish-area students entering middle school Quest program in 2014-15 to Evergreen Middle School instead of Redmond Middle School.

In addition, a districtwide process will begin to review and adjust all school attendance boundaries, for implementation in 2015-16 in light of the defeat of bond measures that would have added and remodeled a number of district schools.

“We have a number of actions planned for next year, many of which would have been needed no matter the outcome of the bond measures,” noted Dr. Traci Pierce, superintendent. “However, without the potential of new school buildings in two years, we will also have to determine additional actions for the future.”

The district also plans to move the Mead Elementary Learning Center program for special education students to McAuliffe Elementary School. It also will begin a new Quest program for gifted students at Blackwell Elementary School, serving students who would previously have gone to Alcott Elementary School for Quest

The districtwide process to adjust attendance boundaries is expected to rebalance enrollment. The goal is to maximize the use of current classroom space by moving students from overcrowded schools to schools that have some space available or where additional portable classrooms could be added, the district said in a news release. The district currently has more students than permanent classroom space and some school campuses cannot accommodate any additional portable classrooms.

A process to determine the new boundaries will begin in the fall of 2014, with board approval of new boundaries occurring in time for kindergarten enrollment in February 2015 for the 2015-16 school year. The boundary process may leave in place the current temporary boundary changes or could further modify those school boundaries.

Other actions that may be needed between 2015 and 2017 include limits to all day kindergarten, continued limits to variance approvals, moving district programs to other schools, adding portables and modifying the facilities at Juanita High School to increase capacity.

At its May 5 work session, the district’s board of directors discussed potential funding for some of the items called for in these actions. A total of $40 million in unallocated funds is available from bonds sold from the 2006 measure as well as unspent state construction funding assistance. Using funds from either source would require that the board hold a public hearing and vote to repurpose the use of the funds.

The board had previously indicated that unspent funds from the 2006 bond measure could be used to support pool and athletic field partnerships, if a bond measure passed. Board members at the work session noted that this interest was contingent on passing a bond, which did not happen.

“Unfortunately, we need that money now for classroom space,” noted board President Jackie Pendergrass.

The board has not made any decisions concerning the potential for any future ballot measure.