Transportation Cooperative groundbreaking marks progress - By Rich Carter, WWPS Superintendent

The Southeast Washington Transportation Cooperative offers discounted school bus maintenance and repair service to cooperative members, which include Prescott and Dixie school districts and Education Service District 123. Walla Walla Public Schools will serve as the host district.

Transportation Cooperative members will save money on school bus maintenance and repair service, improve school bus safety, extend school bus life and reduce risk liability.

T.W. Clark Construction is the project general contractor and more than 10 local construction firms will be employed as subcontractors.

The district has developed a forward thinking funding plan to provide the community an $8 million project without asking for additional local tax dollars. The district is using the $3.4 million state matching money from the Edison construction project to fund the Transportation Cooperative.

This will leverage nearly another $4 million in state matching money from the Transportation Cooperative project to build a Support Services complex for the warehouse, maintenance, grounds, print shop, and food services. The Support Services facility will be built on the same site as the Transportation Cooperative.

The use of state matching funds does not increase the local cost per thousand property tax for Walla Walla taxpayers. In the successful Edison bond election in February 2007, the district openly communicated that the $19.5 million bond dollars would fully fund the project and that the district's community-led Facilities Task Force would reconvene to determine how to use the state matching funds. We delivered on our promise and the Task Force recommended the Edison state matching funds be used for a new Support Services facility.

The district has successfully used this state matching funds allocation process for decades. Examples: A large portion of the state matching funds from the Sharpstein project funded air conditioning and new heating systems at Prospect Point. Matching funds from the Green Park project in the 1990s provided funds for major roofing and asphalt projects. In both successful Sharpstein and Green Park bond issues, the state matching dollars were not returned to buy down the bond debt. This is not a new practice that was used during the Edison bond.

The district has local and national facilities studies that indicate more than $100 million in capital project needs throughout the district. By investing the $3.4 million in matching money back into the system, it generated a 90 percent state match or another $4 million to the district at no direct cost to Walla Walla taxpayers. The community has asked the school district to limit bond measures and keep new taxes to a minimum. This state matching money reinvestment strategy supports what the district has heard from voters.

Please join us Wednesday, August 19 at 10 a.m. for the Transportation Cooperative groundbreaking ceremony. This facility promises to improve districtwide support for our educational facilities and programs. Thanks again for your support as we partner to provide Walla Walla children a quality education.