The future of high school education in the Snoqualmie Valley took a new twist when the Snoqualmie district’s Long Term Facilities Planning Committee set an expansion of Mount Si High School into Snoqualmie Middle School as its top recommended priority.

Economics played a big role in the committee’s decision. An SMS expansion would cost half as much as a remodel and renovation at Mount Si.

Given the multiple failures of ballot measures to fund a second high school in the Valley, as well as the economic realities of the area, their choice is understandable.

But the recommendation raises several questions about the direction of secondary education in the Upper Valley.

How will a two-campus high school promote learning? Is a freshman campus a possibility? What is the projected middle school enrollment in the next decade? What will happen to staff and programs now at SMS? Is the district’s planned middle school parcel on Snoqualmie Ridge more valuable if sold as land for housing? And what will the impacts of a middle school be on that neighborhood? Let’s look into these matters as local school officals deliberate.

It remains early in the decision process, and the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s Board of Directors will have the final say on March 11.