Designate funds to help school buildings withstand earthquakes

Lawmakers are considering a proposal to address urgent building safety improvements in schools in tsunami- and earthquake-prone areas. But the key will be ensuring stable, sustained funding to protect Washington’s children.

Hundreds of the state’s public school buildings fail to meet modern seismic safety codes. In a recent seismic assessment of 561 school buildings, 93% received the lowest-possible rating on a scale developed by the U.S. Resiliency Council. A 2016 Seattle Times investigation found that 1 in 3 Washington students at that time lived in earthquake-prone areas and attended schools built before the statewide adoption of seismic construction standards in 1975.

Substitute Senate Bill 5933, would help school districts that have struggled to find funding to retrofit or rebuild older, potentially unsafe buildings. Sponsored by Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, it would establish a grant program to cover at least two-thirds the cost for public and state tribal compact schools in high seismic hazard areas. It directs the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to appoint an expert advisory board to prioritize projects that address the most serious building deficiencies in areas of greatest seismic risk.

The Senate Ways and Means committee unanimously approved the bipartisan proposal Friday, but only after it was stripped of a provision that would have authorized the state finance committee to issue up to $500 million in general obligation bonds to finance the grants, pending voter approval.

Lawmakers should reconsider, and let voters decide whether they are willing to borrow funds to address this vital need.

As co-sponsor Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said in an interview before the committee’s vote, “It’s a statewide issue. Putting statewide debt into it doesn’t bother me.”

That ringing endorsement should give lawmakers pause.

Lawmakers should be cautious about borrowing, but this is an extraordinary circumstance worthy of investment. The question is not whether an earthquake will rock Washington, but when.

Creating a mechanism for prioritizing and funding critical safety improvements is an important step, but a designated funding source would ensure steady progress toward bringing Washington’s school buildings up to modern safety standards.