Trying not to overshadow the educational needs of the Renton School District, community members hope area pools get a boost from a February election bond measure.

The “Building for a Lifetime of Learning School Improvement Bond,” offers many district improvements, including a new middle school and upgrades to the Lindbergh High School pool, if it passes in the Feb. 14 special election.

Among other things, the passage of the bond would allow for energy-saving improvements to be made to the Lindbergh High School pool, potentially decreasing the expenses it and the Hazen pool cost the district and the community in money they have to raise overall for both pools’ operations.

However, even with the passage of the bond, the community is still responsible for raising funds to close the gap between the pools’ revenues and expenses. It costs the district about $900,000 to operate both pools.

Renton Pools Community, the local community group that has been raising funds to save Renton’s pools, has contributed to nearly $80,000 for that effort this school year. With some funds carried over into the next year, the organization is working on raising the remaining $40,000 to reach the $60,000 to keep the pools open for the 2012-2013 school year.

“We will still continue to count on the public to financially support to keep the pools open, even if the improvement bond passes,” said Randy Matheson, district spokesperson.

The pools are not a money-making endeavor and if the district was running them like a business, they would have been shut down a long time ago, he said.

However, both pools have recently proven that they are resources that are in demand.

“For both Lindbergh and Hazen pools, they had the highest revenue year ever, even with the current economy,” said Bryce Jensen, Lindbergh pool manager, of the pools’ performance last year.

Recently the Renton School District learned that it didn’t have complete information from the county on what it costs to operate the pools.

King County had two budgets for utilities and operating costs, Matheson said.

The county gave the district the operating costs not the utilities costs; another department had been paying for it and didn’t give the district that information.

“It’s more to operate than what we thought,” Matheson said.

“With what we’re spending and what the community is raising, it still costs a lot,” he said.

“We’re in the business of education, so we have to make the decision on what’s best for students and learning,” Matheson said.

Because of that, he doesn’t see asking the community to take on more financial responsibility with the pools as a problem. The district is committed to keep the pools open as long as there is community support.

The long-term plan, Matheson said, is to reduce overhead expenses, increase fees and renovate the Lindbergh pool to see savings in operating and utility costs.

The issue of the pools takes a backseat to the educational needs of the district that like all others in the state, is facing more budget cuts.

“If we’re raising money, we’re doing it to backfill some of these programs like kindergarten,” Matheson said.

Last year, all-day kindergarten was cut from all but the low-income schools in the district. This year even those schools’ all-day kindergarten programs are on the chopping block and proposed to be cut.

“If we’re asking parents to fund all-day kindergarten, then asking them to foot the bill for the pools should be a realistic ask,” Matheson said.

The task for community groups like Renton Pools Community is tricky.

They must tap new and old sources of funds for the pools without getting in the way of others efforts to raise money for district educational programs.

“Keep in mind we as a community have higher priorities in the school-type of fund-raising,” said Chris Carlson, organizer for Renton Pools Community.

“Friends of Renton Schools is raising money just to cover the main school objectives and we certainly don’t want to compete with those efforts of trying to tap major donors.”

To further its efforts, Carlson’s group plans to educate the community about the February bond measure and also sell advertising banners at about $1,500 each.

“Well, I think our first focus has to be the bond,” Carlson said. “Because without passing the bond, the physical plant here at Lindbergh, which is quite aging, there’s the potential that something serious could happen and the money would not be there.”