The southeast corridor of Boise City showed great growth in the 1980's. A bond issue was held in December of 1988 for a new school. The bond issue passed and construction began in June of 1989. White Pine and its sister school Cynthia Mann opened for the 1990-91 school year.

As part of the plan for constructing White Pine, Campus School, located on the grounds of Boise State University, was closed and sold to the University. Many teachers from Campus were transferred to White Pine, along with others from around the District.

White Pine and neighboring Liberty School grew rapidly for the next few years, and passage of another bond issue allowed for the construction of Riverside School just two miles away. White Pine is located on the same large East Boise acreage as is Les Bois Junior High School.