Landowners Offer To Back School Bond But With Conditions, Post Falls Board Told

Kootenai County Property Owners Association members are willing to break their piggy banks and support the Post Falls school bond for the first time.

But their support is conditional, they announced at a press conference Monday.

And school officials say those terms will be tough to meet.

“For a community to go 17 years and not pass a significant levy, it’s apparent to us that everyone needs to step up and support it,” said Don Morgan, a member of the property owners association.

The association - a watchdog organization intent on keeping property taxes down - will support the bond in March if the school district ends double shifting immediately at Post Falls Middle School and if the district settles on a bond amount no greater than $14 million.

They recommend spending about $8 million to build a new junior high school and using whatever is left from the $14 million to upgrade facilities at other schools to allow for year-round schooling.

“This plan would allow Post Falls to work well into the next century without the need for additional facilities by converting to a multi-track year-round schedule for most students while providing for a traditional nine-month schedule for those who do not want a year-round school,” wrote association president Dee Lawless in comments she planned to read to the school board at its Monday night meeting.

Three-fourths of Post Falls’ students would attend school at any one time in the multi-track year-round program Lawless described. Instead of having summers off, students would go to class for several weeks at a time, followed by shorter vacation periods.

Building a middle school for 1,100 students would solve the schools’ crowded conditions only for another two or three years - a little longer with multi-track year-round schooling - said Jerry Keane, assistant superintendent of schools.

“If we did a four-year high school as proposed by the (school) board, it would be five or six years before we’d have to build something more,” he said.

The association polled its board members to determine what it considers a reasonable amount. Morgan, Lawless and other members point to Lakeland School District’s $7.7 million combination middle and high school and the $8.5 million Coeur d’Alene middle school to show that Post Falls could build a new school for under $14 million.

“We aren’t dictating to them how to spend their $14 million. We are offering suggestions. We’d be willing to work with them,” Morgan said.

School board member Donagene Turnbow said she was hesitant to comment Monday afternoon before hearing the association’s full plan. However, the school district cannot end double shifting at the middle school now, she said.

“Even if we pass a bond tomorrow, there’s no way we can end double shifting until a new school is built,” she said.

This year at Prairie View Elementary School, the school district is trying year-round schooling - the association’s alternative to double shifting - for the first time.

And “we’re not going to be able to build a high school for $14 million,” she said, explaining that the district couldn’t build one for that amount three years ago and therefore would not be able to now.

Spending more than $14 million would be too expensive, Lawless said.

“Encumbering the property taxpayers for 20 years to pay off a $21 million bond with interest is unnecessary and unacceptable. Property taxes have no relationship to income; therefore, increases always cause real hardship to low-income families and fixed-income retirees,” she wrote.

Keane said he would consider the association’s proposal.

“It sounds like they want to see something done,” he said. “I’d have to think about all the ramifications of what they’re proposing.”

Lawless hopes the district will accept the association’s offer.

“We have never before offered to support a school facility levy and honestly hope that you will accept this historic offer in the spirit with which we tender it. This is the Christmas season and a most fitting time for people of goodwill to find common ground to solve common problems together,” she wrote.

, DataTimes