North Idaho schools risk losing staff, schools and programs if levies fail

Two neighboring North Idaho school districts face significant budget and staff cuts if their levies do not pass this month after voters rejected earlier versions in March.

Coeur d’Alene Public Schools has a two-year, $25 million supplemental levy on the May 16 ballot, while Lakeland School District, based in Rathdrum, has a two-year, $9.5 million levy.

If the levies fail, each district will lose about 25% of its annual operating budgets.

The Coeur d’Alene district anticipates reducing more than 300 of its 1,371 employees and closing one or two elementary schools if its levy is rejected.

It would also have to cut many programs including full-day kindergarten, all resource officers and security, the mental health department, electives not required for graduation, the Kootenai Technical Education Campus, sports and extracurriculars. Other cuts would be made to supplies, libraries, transportation, nursing and custodial services.

The short list of schools that might have to close includes Borah Elementary, Bryan Elementary, Dalton Elementary and Ramsey Elementary.

If the levy fails, “it would be devastating from an economic development standpoint,” said Chris Meyer, fundraising chair for the Citizens for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools political action committee.

A weakened school district would make the community less attractive for doctors and other professionals to move to or invest in, said Meyer, who is a district parent and a commercial real estate developer.

Ending full-day kindergarten would hurt working parents and would be a drain on the local workforce. Cutting extracurricular activities could get kids into trouble or hinder their development. The effects would be felt by the entire community for years to come, he said.

“This is not a light switch,” Meyer said. “We won’t be able to rebound two years from now.”

With an influx of people from out-of-state moving into the district, a lot of people don’t understand what is at stake because they don’t know how school funding works in Idaho, said Marie Nail, a campaign volunteer who attended Ramsey Elementary.

The state funds only 75% of school operating costs, leaving the rest to local control and requiring a new levy to pass every two years.

Until this year, voters have approved each of the district’s supplemental levies since the 1980s.

The levy is a $5 million increase from the current $20 million levy that expires at the end of the school year.

Meyer said the increase is justified given the rising cost of living in Coeur d’Alene and competition for teachers across the state line in Washington.

Property taxpayers are estimated to pay about $95 per $100,000 of taxable value. That’s an increase of about $19. It has also been calculated to be about $6 more a month for an average Coeur d’Alene home.

“Seems like a small price to pay,” Nail said. “Considering the costs it is avoiding, it’s a heck of a bargain.”

A perpetual version of Coeur d’Alene’s levy narrowly failed in March, with 49% voting in favor and 51% voting against. The levy failed by 361 votes out of more than 17,000 votes cast.

The district is hopeful that changing the levy from permanent to two years will help it pass.

Out of caution, the administration is proceeding as if the levy will fail. The school board pre-emptively declared a financial emergency April 21, at the recommendation of Superintendent Shon Hocker.

“We remain hopeful that our community will come together on May 16 so we can focus on providing our students with what they need to achieve academic excellence,” Hocker said. “But if they don’t, we need to be prepared to move forward efficiently.”

Declaring a financial emergency is a necessary step before reducing staff. Making the declaration before the election gives the administration a head start on a tight timeline to draft a budget due at the end of May, Hocker said.

It will also allow the administration to more quickly notify staff that may lose their jobs after the election.

If the levy passes, the board can simply rescind the emergency.

The board decided not to rerun a five-year, $25 million safety and operations levy, which also failed in March, with 54.5% voting in favor. The levy required a 55% majority to pass.

That levy would have funded security projects and overdue maintenance on heating and air conditioning equipment, roofing, plumbing and other concerns.

The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, which has opposed funding requests at the ballot for local schools and endorsed candidates for boards interested in tightening budgets, opposes both Coeur d’Alene’s and Lakeland’s levies.

“School Districts MUST STOP repeatedly running levies without addressing community concerns,” a statement on a sample ballot by KCRCC says. “The voters opposed these levies in March. The people have spoken!”

KCRCC chair Brent Regan said in an email last week that he did not have time to be interviewed.

In contrast to Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland, the Post Falls School District passed its two-year, $6 million levy with 61% of the vote. That renewed a $5 million levy and increased school safety funding by about $1 million.

Lakeland’s two-year supplemental levy failed in March with 53% voting against it. But the election only had a 15% turnout. The school board chose to run the levy again, hoping for higher turnout and a more accurate reflection of what residents want.

The $9.5 million levy is the same as the current levy, with no increase.

Superintendent Lisa Arnold said the district specifically chose not to increase out of a recognition of how inflation is impacting the community. But it also means some cuts will have to be made even if the levy passes.

Unlike Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland still will rerun a separate levy for building repairs and maintenance. The levy failed 49% in favor and 51% against. It requires 55% to pass.

This time, the levy is reduced from a six-year term to two years. The levy is $1.146 million a year.

And unlike Coeur d’Alene, Lakeland has not yet declared a financial emergency. The district has a healthy fund balance, Arnold said.

The district has not been as explicit about exactly what would have to be cut if the levy fails, although it has listed essentially all the same programs as Coeur d’Alene that are currently funded by the levy.

“The board has not engaged in any conversation about what programs might be eliminated or reduced because they don’t want to threaten the community,” Arnold said.

She said that 87% of the general fund is “people,” paying employee salaries and benefits.

Lakeland is characterized by having small neighborhood schools with smaller class sizes, Arnold said, but it costs more to have more schools.

Arnold appealed to the high percentage of residents with no children in school, while acknowledging that many are on fixed-income.

She said lower graduation rates correlate with higher crime rates and other problems for the community.

“Everybody who lives here benefits from a strong school system,” she said.

We remain hopeful that our community will come together on May 16 so we can focus on providing our students with what they need …” Coeur d’Alene Public Schools Superintendent Shon Hocker