Ridgefield school bond fails to reach supermajority after first count of ballots

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A $62.6 million bond measure to build a new elementary school in the Ridgefield School District doesn’t have the supermajority of votes needed to pass after the first round of ballots counted for the April special election.

As of the first count of numbers released after the 8 p.m. deadline on April 26, the measure had about 56.5% approval, with 3,392 votes cast in favor. The measure needs more than 60% for the supermajority approval required for capital bonds.

If approved, the bond would fund the construction of a 75,000-square-foot elementary school that would house kindergarten through fourth grades and an 18,000-square-foot expansion at Ridgefield High School. The district previously stated a bond would need to be approved in April in order to have the new buildings ready for the 2023-2024 school year. 



Following the passage of a $78 million bond in 2017 that constructed the district’s intermediate grades campus, the district has tried four times unsuccessfully to pass another measure. Voters in support of the measures made up between 50.5% to 59.2% of ballots cast in the prior elections. Most recently, the current form of the bond received about 57.5% approval in February.

Clark County elections said about 27,500 ballots had been counted in Clark County, including RSD’s bond measure and a replacement levy for the Evergreen School District. The elections office estimates 9,000 ballots are left to count, and will have its second count tomorrow afternoon.