Idaho school districts are hoping to take the pressure off of voters by changing how often they can put levies on the ballot.
Currently, the system only allows levies that last one or two years, or forever.
Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent Dr. Shon Hocker said two years is just too frequent and makes voters feel like the district is constantly asking for a handout.
“20 months ago, our school district did ask our community to support a perpetual levy, so a ‘forever’ levy. That was narrowly defeated, so it was close. But, the biggest common conversation we heard was, ‘Is there not something in-between two years and six years?'” he said.
Under a new proposal, districts would be able to put forth levies that last between one and six years.
CDA School District and other Idaho districts are hoping state legislatures will take up the issue to change the levy system at the state level.
Dr. Hocker recently presented the plan to a group of Idaho legislators and hopes they will bring the issue to the 2025 legislative session.
Dr. Teresa Rae, Vice Chair of the Idaho School Board Association, said she hopes for even broader changes to how Idaho funds education.
“We’re trying to get out of the business of having to run levies. We want the state to fully fund public education. That is the real message,” she said.
The Post Falls School District’s current funding model uses attendance, rather than enrollment, which makes it more difficult to fund programs like sports and music. Extracurriculars are usually covered by local levies because state law does not require districts to fund those programs.
“We lose $20,974 a day, so almost $21,000 a day that it should be operational funding provided by the state, because of our funding formula,” said Post Falls School District Superintendent, Dena Naccarato.
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