BLAINE — Blaine High School students will get a bit more elbow room if school district voters approve a $40 million bond that would pay for doubling the school’s capacity.

District officials are asking voters to approve the bond, which has $30 million earmarked for the high school and $10 million for other district projects, as well as a replacement four-year maintenance and operations levy.

If both measures pass, the estimated combined tax rate for all school district taxes, including the $19 million bond passed in 2001, would be about $2.56 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value. That means a person who owns a home assessed at $300,000 would pay about $770 to the school district.

The current tax rate is $2 per $1,000 of a home’s assessed value, which means a person who owns a home assessed at $300,000 will pay about $600 this year.

BOND

Most of Blaine High School is about 35 years old and was built for a capacity of 400 students. Additions have brought the capacity to about 550 students. This year, the school has 700 students, and administrators are running out of places for everyone.

Over the years, the high school has been accommodating growth by having some classes at the middle school, but now those classrooms are needed for middle school students.

“Blaine has felt … it’s been in a temporary situation for quite some time, and the next piece of the puzzle is to complete the high school campus and bring it up to speed with the rest of the program,” said Superintendent Ron Spanjer.

Renovating and expanding the high school would also allow the district to increase the number of science labs and classrooms, which only accommodate about 25 percent of current student needs, Spanjer said.

“The importance of (the high school expansion) relates very directly to responding to program needs … and longterm growth … as well as keeping pace with needs in science, technology and vocation,” Spanjer said. “We’re bringing the facility into the arena of current education needs.”

If the bond passes, Spanjer expects some work to start at the high school this summer. The new sections of the school should be finished during 2010, at which point the existing structures would be upgraded. Spanjer expects the whole project to be done within 3½ years.

Other items covered by the bond include:

$1.5 million to purchase yet-to-befound land for an elementary school in Birch Bay.

$4 million to improve Pipeline Fields and the district’s stadium.

$4.5 million for facility upgrades — expansion of cafeteria space at Blaine Elementary, expansion of special education space at Blaine Middle, upgrades to the school bus parking and maintenance site, enclosure of the play shed at Blaine Primary, improvements to the gym at Blaine Middle and expansion of the district office.

The bond that passed in 2001, which paid for adding a few classrooms to the high school but mostly covered renovations to other schools, will be paid off in 2015. The new $40 million bond would be paid off over 20 years.

More than 60 percent of voters must approve the bond for it to pass.

LEVY

If approved, the maintenance and operations levy would replace the current one, which will expire at the end of the year.

The levy would bring in between $4.7 million and $5.5 million each year, allowing the district to continue to keep programs that aren’t fully funded by the state or federal government. Those programs include vocational education, music, special education, athletics and staff training.

The levy request is about $200,000 higher than the current levy, mostly to cover inflation and rising utility costs. The levy amount will rise by about 5 percent each year to $5.5 million to cover inflation, Spanjer said.

The current maintenance and operations levy provides more than 21 percent of the district’s budget.

“Losing 22 percent of the budget would be just absolutely devastating to the program,” Spanjer said. “That being said, we have every intention of passing it the first time.”

More than 50 percent of voters must approve the levy for it to pass.