When voters approved Together Spokane in November 2025, they approved two linked measures: a $200M Spokane Public Schools (SPS) bond and a $240 million City of Spokane Parks levy. This joint 20‑year, 200‑project investment in schools, parks, and neighborhoods creates a framework for SPS–City collaboration, ensuring that major capital projects (such as new schools, playfields, and outdoor learning spaces) are co‑planned rather than siloed.
The vision was built on years of community input to improve schools, parks, and neighborhoods across the city, and it is explicitly framed around youth wellness, education and workforce development, public safety, arts and culture, and healthy neighborhoods and adult recreation.
Thoughtful collaboration can stretch taxpayer dollars further while delivering value to every neighborhood. That work resonates across the city, and for City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Director Garrett Jones, that vision is not just aspirational; it is a practical roadmap for smarter public investment.
“We don’t care if it’s a parks facility, a school facility, school grounds, or parks grounds,” Jones said. “What does that overarching community benefit look like, and how can we stretch that investment as much as possible? These investments must work for kids and for the adults, families, and seniors who share those neighborhoods.”
From Jones’s perspective, what makes Together Spokane historic is not just the number of projects. It is a fundamental shift in how the City and Spokane Public Schools approach public investment and partnership. Together Spokane links a Spokane Public Schools bond with a City Parks levy, so voters see one integrated, citywide plan rather than disconnected measures. Every school and every park is part of a 20-year roadmap that reaches into every corner of the community.
“I think the mindset of collaborative decision-making from day one is what really stands out,” Jones said. “The community told us they wanted smart government and municipalities working together rather than operating in silos.” For him, that means residents should be able to walk onto campuses like Franklin Park and Madison Elementary and see a single community asset, not a patchwork of school and park property.
Using Funds Differently, with Taxpayers in Mind
Historically, Spokane Parks relied on bond measures that funded only large, one-time capital projects. The City built a pool, rebuilt a park, or renovated a landmark. Community input during a system-wide master plan sent a different message. Residents wanted existing assets better maintained, new parks within a 10-minute walk, and older facilities repaired or replaced, not just shiny new projects.
“Our shift from a bond to a levy model was also historic,” Jones said. Together Spokane’s structure lets the district focus bond dollars on safer, modern school buildings, rec centers, and sports fields, while Parks uses levy funds to keep shared facilities open, clean, lit, and well programmed, and to build new parks, renovate older parks, and add or enhance amenities.
Jones is candid about the financial discipline this kind of partnership demands. He points to clear, upfront cost explanations and annual reporting as essential tools for trust. “We put a tax calculator on our website, and we were upfront in saying yes, this is a tax increase,” he said. “Here is what you would pay and here is the value proposition. Long term, it can actually save families money through more after-school programs and better access to parks and schools. People want that transparency. It helps with trust.” (https://www.togetherspokane.org/cost)
Schools as Community Anchors and Green Space Hubs
Decades ago, Spokane formalized one of the state’s first joint use agreements with the school district, which is why so many schools sit next to parks and why students use public golf courses and gyms instead of Spokane Public Schools building their own.
Together Spokane builds on that foundation and takes it to another level. Rebuilt schools like Adams Elementary and Madison Elementary are being designed as community centers with schools inside, adding extra activity spaces, multiple points of entry, and embedded partners such as the Boys and Girls Club. Adams, for example, is being planned so that school spaces can be secured for students during the day while other parts of the building can host community programs after hours. At Franklin Park and Madison, a new “school and rec center” campus with indoor courts, adjacent fields, and a rethought park edge will serve students during the school day and neighbors, youth and adult sports, and community programs into the evening.
Planning Around the 10-Minute Walk
The goal of “a walking or green space within 10 minutes of every neighborhood in Spokane” sits at the heart of how Parks and Spokane Public Schools plan projects together. The parks master plan mapped gaps in access to open space, and the district’s long-term capital plan mapped aging schools and future rebuilds. Together Spokane overlays those maps so new schools, outdoor learning centers, and all-weather fields close access gaps rather than reinforce them.
“When we looked at the growth in North Indian Trail, that was one of those gap areas,” Jones said. “We already owned 16 acres, so we were able to design Meadowglen Park before the initiative passed. We lined up state and federal grants and then leveraged local levy dollars. Year one of Together Spokane, a new park there will move us closer to that 10-minute walk goal.” Site preparation for Meadowglen Park began in May and will be the City of Spokane’s first new park in more than 20 years. The park is expected to officially open in the summer of 2027.
The same thinking guides the citywide all-weather, lighted fields now under contract for Shadle and Rogers High School, as well as the extension of youth sports capacity at the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex and other high school sites. In a city with challenging spring and fall weather, increasing field capacity through surfacing and lights does more for neighborhood access than simply scattering more small fields.
Concrete Taxpayer Value and Avoiding Duplication
One of Jones’s favorite examples of fiscal stewardship is the indoor pool at Spokane Community College. “We heard from the community that they loved our six outdoor aquatic centers but wanted some type of indoor availability,” he said. “We could have gone out to find land and capital dollars for a brand new indoor aquatic center. That might be an $80-$100 million investment. Instead, we engaged SCC and found they had an indoor aquatic center that had been closed since the pandemic. We said, ‘If we invest and program it, can we use it?’ They said yes, and with a $5–6 million investment, we’ll deliver the community asset people wanted and asked for.”
He applies the same lens to daily operations. At places like Shadle, school and park crews currently maintain different halves of the same shared campus. “Rather than sending two crews that are essentially doing the same thing, how do we leverage what we each do best?” Jones said. “If we are more efficient at large area field mowing, maybe Parks does that. If the district is more efficient at interior building maintenance, they do that. That kind of behind-the-scenes work is what saves taxpayers money and avoids duplication.”
Activation, Youth Outcomes, and Long-Term Efficiency
For Jones, the most powerful return on these investments may be the hardest to quantify: what happens when parks and school spaces are consistently and positively activated. He talks about nights at places like Grant Park and the Perry District, where a farmer’s market, youth games, picnics, and casual play all spill across the park and school grounds. In his view, that kind of everyday activity is both a neighborhood strength and a public safety strategy.
“When you drive by a park and see families using it, a school gym full of activity, partners running sports or after-school programs, and people just enjoying the facility, they have no idea what went into the investment or the design or maintenance,” Jones said. “They are just enjoying that facility to its fullest extent. The more positive activation we can have in these spaces, the less negative we see.”
“It is a lot more efficient to invest in that proactive approach than it is to react later,” Jones said. “If we can hit kids before they even reach a point of choosing a negative path, by making them feel like they are a part of something, that is a pretty special impact for the community and for taxpayers.”
Ultimately, Jones believes the community now expects this kind of collaborative, systems-level thinking whenever they are asked to support new public investments. “Together Spokane is about proving that we did, and that we will keep doing it for the next 20 years.”