Christian testifies before the Senate K-12 and Early Learning Committee Jan. 14.

OLYMPIA – A bill freeing up school construction money for districts operating schools on military bases won approval from a Senate committee Thursday.

Senate Bill 5901, sponsored by Sen. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane Valley, excludes military base schools from school-construction funding calculations. The measure would end a longstanding inequity that has reduced school construction money for the Medical Lake and Clover Park school districts.

Christian told the Senate K-12 and Early Learning Committee last week that schools on military bases are designed to military specs. Frequently they are larger than required for immediate school needs so they can accommodate fluctuating base populations and serve other purposes when needed.

But under Washington’s school construction formula, that extra space is counted against the school districts, reducing funding for schools elsewhere in the district. Christian, an Air Force veteran whose hometown is Spokane, said the situation puts school districts in a bind. “They can’t just move in students from off-base to fill that extra space because these are secure facilities,” he explained.

The situation has forced Medical Lake and Clover Park to seek a higher proportion of school construction funding from voters than other districts. The two districts operate base schools at Fairchild Air Force Base and Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Kimberly Headrick, superintendent of the Medical Lake School District, said Michael Anderson Elementary School at Fairchild Air Force Base, built with federal funds in 2003, has capacity for 600 students. Currently it serves 400, and the excess capacity at the base school disqualifies the district from receiving state construction funding elsewhere in the district. She said the district hopes to obtain $14 million in state funding for modernization projects for Medical Lake High School and Hallett Elementary School, both located in the city of Medical Lake.

“It looks like we have excess capacity, but in reality that space is behind a security fence on a federal installation,” she explained. The bill ensures the district is not penalized for serving military families, she said.

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane. As a result of Thursday’s vote, the measure advances to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.