With the 2026-27 school year underway, Tri-Cities’ three public school districts continue making capital improvements that set the stage for sustainable growth and ensuring that existing schools are equipped for learning needs today and into the future.

After completing two high schools last year, Pasco School District turned its attention to its older high schools, Pasco and Chiawana, making improvements to their career and technical education (CTE) wings and athletic facilities.

Richland School District is rallying and finding new direction forward after a failed bond measure put new major capital improvements on hold.

Kennewick School District wrapped up its Tri-Tech Skills Center modernization project just in time to welcome students back to campus in September 2026.

Together, Tri-Cities’ three school districts serve over 50,000 students and employ over 6,000 people.

Pasco School District

Not losing any steam after building two new high schools last year, earth is churning again, this time at the district’s oldest secondary school, Pasco High.

Remaining funds from the $195.5 million 2023 bond that funded Sageview High and Orion High schools are being used to overhaul and modernize the school’s 1960s-era CTE-wing.
 In addition to structural updates, the pottery studio will get new kilns, the wood shop an upgraded dust collection system, the metal shop an improved ventilation system and the auto shop new car lifts.

The kitchen in the culinary classroom is also being refreshed, and the three-dimensional and laser printing room for robotics will be upgraded.

Due to the extent of the renovations, the wing will be closed for the 2026-27 school year and 130 students will attend classes in portables borrowed from neighboring Captain Gray STEM Elementary, as well as at Columbia Basin College’s vocational school and at Sageview High.

Work is expected to be completed by August 2027.

Some 1950s-era bathrooms also are being fully demolished and rebuilt with modern, accessible features.

Chiawana High’s CTE wing also will see updates, including a modernized science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lab that include three-dimensional printers and laser cutters and an HVAC redesign.

The work represents $12 million being invested in the CTE improvements at the two schools.

Dirt is also moving on the west corner of the Pasco High campus at the Emerson Morgan Sports Complex where a $3 million combination athletic practice field is being installed, which will serve softball, football, soccer and other sports.

The field will consist of synthetic turf while the softball field will feature a dirt infield, grass lawn and a full outfitting of aluminum bleachers, light fixtures, scoreboards, batting cage and a press box.

Pasco High’s Edgar Brown Stadium also saw an upgrade from older sodium halide field lighting fixtures to more energy efficient LED lights with a color changing feature that will enable special lighting for different events.

The basketball courts at the Pasco and Chiawana schools were fully refinished and repainted and both schools’ tennis courts were pressure washed, sanded, resurfaced and repainted.

Ochoa Middle School also saw enhancements to its fitness center, including a dedicated cardio lab and weight room with age-appropriate strength training machines and light dumbbells.

For the 2025-26 school year, Pasco School District enrolled 18,847 students.

The district employs 2,500 staff and oversees a budget of $355 million.

Richland School District’s community-led Facilities Task Force has identified Chief Joseph Middle School as being the building most urgently in need of an upgrade. The school at 504 Wilson St. was built in 1951 and has not seen a significant renovation for 30 years.

| Photo by Nathan Finke

Richland School District

Forced to go back to the drawing board and reconsider its capital project priorities following the failed 2024 school bond, Richland School District established a Community Facilities Task Force last spring to provide new insight and direction for a long-range facilities plan.

The task force consists of 25 community members, as well as a few nonvoting school board members and Ken Gosney, Richland’s assistant superintendent of human capital and operations.

The committee conducted a community-wide survey in March and numerous staff focus groups were convened, Gosney said.

The draft list of improvements totals an estimated $114 million in facility needs.

Though the task force’s final report and recommendations were not available at press time, the committee identified two major budget priorities.

“The committee has reprioritized the need to provide a permanent facility for River’s Edge High School (Alternative Learning Experience), replacing the aged portables currently housing the program with a permanent structure likely to be a modular building similar to Three Rivers HomeLink (Parent Partnership Program),” Gosney said.

The committee also commissioned an independent engineering review of Chief Joseph Middle School to determine the most cost-effective approach to update the building.

“They found that the building is an ideal candidate for renovation, providing a far more cost-effective approach than replacement. Additionally, the district is eligible for ($20.5 million) in state grant assistance renovation dollars, lowering the cost to remodel even further,” Gosney said.

One future project the district has opted to shelve for the time being is the pursuit of a third comprehensive high school.

“The committee deeply reviewed this subject,” Gosney said.

“Consistent with nationwide trends, declining birth rates since Covid has stagnated enrollment across the district. A detailed capacity analysis and updated student enrollment projections analyzed by the committee reveal that additional high school space is not a near-term priority.”

Other preservation and safety improvements were identified at several campuses across the district, as well as the need to relocate an aging transportation facility at Richland High, which will open up more student parking.

“We are really focused on the immediate needs and trying to be sensitive to not getting wants into the process. This is really just looking at what are the most pressing needs we have in the district and how do we handle those issues,” Gosney said.

Outside the purview of the task force, the Hanford High School shed that burned down in September 2024 was replaced under the district’s insurance policy in 2026.

Richland School District manages a $235 million budget, employs 2,030 full-time and 126 part-time employees. In 2025-26, the district enrolled 13,172 students.

Tri-Tech Skills Center in Kennewick completed its core modernization project at 5929 W. Metaline Ave. in Kennewick. The $45.5 million, state-funded projet included infrastructure upgrades to electrical, plumbing, roofing and mechanical systems, along with energy-efficiency improvements, life safety enhancements and a reconfiguration of learning spaces.

| Photo by Chad Utecht

Kennewick School District

Kennewick School District has an annual budget of nearly $340 million, serves more than 19,000 students, and employs about 2,190 staff members.

Since last July, the district has been working on a substantial $45.5 million remodel at Tri-Tech Skills Center which focuses on modernizing the 66,000-square foot portion built in 1981.

Tri-Tech is a tuition-free technical and professional training school for high school-aged students.

Improvements by Chervenell Construction included infrastructure upgrades to the electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems and roof, as well as energy and life safety updates.

Existing spaces also were reconfigured to better support current programs at the school as well as accommodate the needs of future career programs the district plans to add to the school’s offerings.

Most of the renovations were completed in time for the start of the school year.

“The general contractor will be on site for several more months completing some ancillary metal buildings and site improvements,” said Ryan Jones, capital projects manager for district.

Other projects completed around the district this year include new videoboards installed in the main gyms of the district’s three comprehensive high schools: Southridge, Kennewick and Kamiakin.

A parking lot extension also was completed for the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) campus located on the site of Amistad Elementary at 830 W. Vineyard Drive. ECEAP is a state-funded initiative providing free preschool to 3- to 5-year-olds from low-income families.