NOTE: Resolution No. 676: Request for 2025-2026 Budget Extension for Capital Projects Fund HAS BEEN UPDATED to reflect the entire balance of the Capital Projects Fund as $25,317,729, and not simply the Freedom Farm upgrades. A previous version read that the Freedom Farm allocation was $25,317,729, and we reported as such.
On Thursday September 25, the Olympia School District (OSD) Board of Directors will hold a public hearing on a budget extension in order to perform upgrades to the Freedom Farm. They include:
- Rezoning the land for Educational use
- Providing emergency response access
- Installing portable classroom spaces
- Constructing permanent restrooms
- Ensuring ADA accessibility
- Addressing other essential site improvements
The Freedom Farm is a high school-level (grades 9-11) Alternative Learning Experience (ALE) run under the Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA) that provides a hands-on learning experience, while providing fresh produce throughout our community. The Freedom Farm is one of many valuable programs in our district that helps serve students in transformative ways. 2025-26 enrollment is slightly under projection at 59 students.
Currently, the farm utilizes a portable on the property of Centennial Elementary School, a 5 minute walk away. $4.5m will come from interfund transfers from the Debt Service Fund, raised via State Forest Revenue.
This money cannot be transferred into OSD’s general fund, and would continue to grow if left in the Debt Service Fund. There is also concern that withdrawing this money from the debt service fund and using it for capital improvements could reduce the district’s credit score resulting in higher interest rates when the district goes for a bond.
From a strategic standpoint, it’s also unclear how this would fit into a larger plan for the district. In the fall of 2024, a Long Range Facilities Master Planning Advisory Committee, made up of over 40 OSD students, staff, families, and community partners, came together over eight months to assess the future of OSD’s facilities. Hands-on experiences like the farm were said to be valued by the committee, but the district has yet to publicly share an official Capital Facilities Plan. Any other projects that come out of that plan would need to be paid for by a bond, which wouldn’t be able to occur until 2032. A presentation by the consultants leading this committee is scheduled for the October 23 board meeting. It’s unclear why this decision cannot be made after that presentation.
Uncertainty surrounds the choice to pull from the district’s debt service funds and open the 2025-26 budget for the Freedom Farm. In March of 2025, the joint work session between OSD and the City of Olympia ended with excitement around the Olympia Urban Farm Park project that would split the cost of renovations at the Freedom Farm site. The district claimed that the city’s timeline was longer than OSD’s. There doesn’t appear to be any analysis of staffing an expanded facility within our current operating budget, nor the reason to move ahead before the Long-Range Facilities presentation.