Issaquah School District adding new high school in 2027 amid overcrowding issues

The Issaquah School District (ISD) will add a new high school to its roster in 2027, designed to address overcrowding issues across the district, according to KING 5.

In 2016, ISD purchased the former Providence Heights College site, and the district will now build its new high school on the same plot of land.

New Issaquah high school projected for 2027

Construction on the 75,000 square-foot campus is expected to begin next spring and will serve approximately 700 students. The campus will include multi-use fields, outdoor spaces, and flexible classrooms. A small parking garage and widening the roads leading to the school will also be added to manage traffic during arrival and dismissal.

Voters approved funding for the new high school in 2016, and it was later approved again in 2022. However, between 2018 and 2022, various obstacles led to a delay, including legal challenges, land-use approvals, rezoning, and permitting.

The new high school was initially projected to cost around $120 million in 2016, but escalating construction costs raised the estimate to $292.7 million in 2024. ISD implemented additional funding measures in 2024 and 2025 due to the increase.

The efforts in 2024 and 2025 only reeled in 60% of the needed funding, and the school board opted to move forward with the previously approved funding from 2016. The project is now being carried out in smaller phases, under a $146 million budget, with room to add on in the future.

“High enrollment has been a pattern in Issaquah for years. Right now, our other high schools are full or even over capacity,” Superintendent Heather Tow-Yick said, according to KING 5. “This next high school campus is really about helping to ease the capacity that exists and previously had existed.”

ISD students’ opinions are also being considered throughout the project’s design process under the Career Kickstart program. Liberty High School senior Sarah Lilley praised the district’s decision to include students in the early stages of the project.

“It’s really cool that they’re letting students be a part of it,” Lilley said, according to KING 5. “They really do care about what students have to say, because at the end of the day, students are gonna be the ones there.”

ISD noted that community feedback will continue to be taken into consideration as the project develops, and the new school is expected to be ready for students in the fall of 2027.

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