Simplify approval of school construction for earthquake safety

Washington lawmakers have known for years that few of the state’s public-school buildings meet earthquake safety standards.

A new report shows just how widespread the problem is and how that has overwhelmed many Washington school districts. State and federal lawmakers must step in to help.

State lawmakers can take an appropriate first step during this coming short session that starts in January by lowering the threshold for voters to approve school construction bonds to a simple majority. Since lawmakers raised the threshold to 60% more than 70 years ago, it’s been difficult for too many districts to get voter approval for building needs.

Although Washington has one of the highest risks of earthquake in the United States, most public-school students attend class in buildings that predate modern seismic safety standards. Ninety-three percent of 561 school buildings across the state surveyed in recent geological and engineering assessments received the lowest-possible rating — one star in the five-star rating scale developed by the U.S. Resiliency Council. According to that group of experts, an average building designed to meet modern building codes should expect to achieve a safety rating of three to four stars.

A Seattle Times investigation in 2016 found that 1 in 3 pupils enrolled in Washington schools — about 386,000 students at the time — lived in earthquake-prone areas and attended schools built before seismic construction standards were adopted statewide in 1975.

The legislative report, released this summer by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Office of the Commissioner of Public Lands, is the most comprehensive look to date at the problem. The facts are startling. For example, 67 of the school buildings surveyed, serving more than 10,000 students, are located within tsunami inundation zones.

Bringing the state’s school buildings up to seismic standards won’t be cheap, but the alternative is unthinkable. Washington cannot continue playing this dangerous game.

Leaving aside the latent threat to children’s safety, retrofitting buildings to bring them up to standards is often less expensive than repairing or rebuilding earthquake-damaged schools.

State lawmakers have set aside a modest fund for the most urgent needs in school districts that can’t raise the money to address them, but it’s a drop in the bucket. Significantly more funding is needed, particularly to help small, rural districts that have older building and difficulty raising funds.

Until then, lawmakers can help by lowering the bonding threshold to allow more districts to make their case to a simple majority of their voters.