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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

School supplemental tax levies have skyrocketed over past decade, still rising…

Voter-approved supplemental tax levies in Idaho school districts are up to $194.7 million this year, an all-time record, Idaho Education News reports. And 93 of the state’s 115 districts have the levies in place to help fill gaps in state funding for local schools, a number that’s unchanged from last year. Next week, voters in five Idaho school districts will consider supplemental levies, which can last for only up to two years.

State schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra told EdNews reporter Kevin Richert that the levy numbers, which have skyrocketed over the past decade, illustrate Idahoans’ commitment to education. “I see the levies as sending a positive message about how strongly local communities value their students and rally to support education,” Ybarra said Thursday. But she also said the state needs to continue rebuilding its K-12 public schools budget, which is “not fully recovered” from the recession.

State Rep. John McCrostie told Idaho EdNews he views the supplemental levy figures as an ongoing and troubling trend, showing that the burden for funding schools is shifting from the state to local taxpayers. “The state is not doing its job to properly fund education,” said McCrostie, D-Garden City. Richert’s full report is online here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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