Idaho law and an outspoken opposition contributed to the failure of Tuesday's bond levy in Lakeland School District.
Schools Superintendent Bob Jones and board member Don Soltman said Wednesday that tax concerns were a factor, too.
While the two-part bond levy failed to win a super-majority (two-thirds of the vote) as Idaho law requires, both issues won a majority of the votes cast in the well-attended election.
Jones and school officials in other districts said the failure of the bond issue was another example of the difficulty in meeting the super-majority requirement.
"Again, it shows the unfairness of the Idaho school funding system," said Dave Teater, Coeur d'Alene schools' assistant superintendent.
"My feeling is the minority controls the majority," said Richard Harris, superintendent of the Post Falls School District.
Harris and Coeur d'Alene school officials are hoping the Lakeland bond election isn't any indication of the voter mood in their districts. Both have construction levy elections coming up.
In the unofficial results, the $9.3 million bond levy to build a new junior high and improve other facilities in Lakeland received 2,284 votes, or about 55 percent.
The additional $650,000 bond levy for a hot lunch program only received 54 percent of the vote, or 2,244 votes.
The school board is meeting today to recount the votes from the polling place at John Brown Elementary because of a suspected tallying mistake, officials said.
"It's clear these ladies (volunteers) did nothing unethical," said Ron Schmidt, assistant superintendent. "It's plain they just had a long day and the hour was late."
Although an adjustment is expected in the final results, it is not expected to change the outcome of the election, which drew about 800 more voters than the district's last bond election in 1993.
This time, Lakeland bond supporters were hampered by an aggressive campaign against the bond issue led by local developer Larry Clark. Clark's goal was to defeat the bond and force the school district to return with a less expensive proposal.
Soltman said it was the first time Lakeland has had organized opposition to a bond levy.
"I don't think Mr. Clark's opposition was necessarily the determining factor," Jones said. "The underlying concerns were present before he ever got involved in the thing. He may have brought a focus to them."
Officials in Lakeland's neighboring school districts were hoping the bond would pass for Lakeland's sake and their own.
"It would have helped if they had started by passing theirs and the momentum carried into ours," said Doug Creswell, superintendent of Coeur d'Alene schools.
Coeur d'Alene School District has a $10 million special plant facilities levy election scheduled for May 21. That type of levy only needs 55 percent of the vote for approval.
Next Tuesday, Post Falls School District has a two-part bond levy election for a new $15 million high school.
Harris doesn't think the demise of Lakeland's bond issue will necessarily effect the Post Falls levy.
"People have pretty much made up their minds on how they're going vote," he said. "This is the second time around for ours. We addressed some concerns that were raised in '94, so that might make a difference."
The next step for Lakeland is unclear. The school board may discuss the election and future options at its April meeting.
In the short term, school officials have to come up with temporary solutions for a growing student population.
"The fall of '97 is thought to be a very critical trigger point in terms of excessive over-crowding," Jones said. "We were hoping to have those facilities in place."
