N. Idaho voters pass 3 school levies, reject 1

Idaho voters approved school funding levies Tuesday in Kootenai and Shoshone counties and rejected one in Bonner County. A two-year levy passed for the Lakeland Joint School District in Rathdrum. Voters approved the measure, which will raise $4.8 million a year for two years, 869 to 384 votes. Lakeland officials said the district of just over 4,000 students would have needed to cut 20 percent from its general fund budget if the levy had failed. Levies also passed in two school districts in the Silver Valley. The Kellogg School District’s levy request of $2.78 million a year for two years was approved 580 to 386, and the Wallace School District’s request of $2 million a year for two years passed by a mere two votes, 261 to 259. Voters rejected a $3.5 million, one-year levy for the West Bonner School District in Priest River. The request failed with 747 voting no and 550 voting yes.