Senate Votes To Keep Bond Supermajority

A proposed constitutional amendment reducing in certain instances the two-thirds supermajority needed to approve school bonds has been rejected by the state Senate.

The measure would have reduced the majority for bond passage to 60 percent if school districts held bond election on one of the four days authorized in the state’s election consolidation law. They are the first Tuesdays in February and August and the May primary and November general election days.

But the proposition drew only limited debate on Friday and received 21 votes, three short of the two-thirds needed. Its chances in the House were dimmer yet even though passage would only put the issue before voters in the 1996 general election.

Idaho is the only state that both requires a two-thirds vote to pass a school bond and leaves the entire cost of school construction up to local property taxpayers.