So far, the Bethel School District bond measure has been approved by 65% of voters. The roughly $87.3 million bond will be used to update buildings and provide more student resources.
Bethel superintendent Chris Parra said she’s thankful to the community for approving the district’s largest bond. These funds will go toward updating the vocational buildings at Willamette and Kalapuya High Schools.
“What we’ve seen is that vocational programs have really been meaningful to students,” said Parra. “And we can see that in graduation results. Kids who are in vocational, career technical programs have higher graduation rates. Even students who just participate in one class”
About half of the bond will also be used for other updates, such as replacing Cascade Middle School, which was built in 1955.
