Idaho Bond Vote Requirement Unfair

We can elect people by a single vote. In most instances, only a simple majority is needed to pass federal law. The U.S. Supreme Court makes momentous rulings on 5-4 splits.

That’s what democracy is all about. Majority rule.

Yet, Idaho requires a two-thirds supermajority margin to pass bond elections. This inequitable law allows minority interests to hold the majority hostage.

A recent bond election in the Post Falls School District illustrates the unfairness. Sixty-three percent of voters supported the $15.8 million proposal for a new high school, but it failed by about 200 votes. Generally, anything approaching 60 percent approval is considered a landslide.

We know we’re swimming upstream on this one. The supermajority rule is popular in Idaho. But it’s flat wrong. At a minimum, the bar should be lowered to something reachable, like Washington’s 60 percent requirement.

Idaho schools suffer a double whammy. The Gem State is the only state to require a two-thirds vote for bond elections and also place the entire cost of school construction on local property taxpayers.

Under Idaho’s supermajority rule, any crank with a few bucks and determination can sink a bond.

The tightly run Lakeland School District at Rathdrum attracted only 55 percent support for a new junior high school this spring after a developer financed a campaign against it. Also, some blame the narrow Post Falls loss on a negative newspaper advertisement published in the final days of the campaign.

Supporters of supermajority passage argue that the two-thirds requirement protects them from people who don’t own property. Yet, renters pay for schools, jails and courthouse buildings, too, when landlords pass tax increases on to them in the form of higher rent payments.

More and more, local governments in Idaho are resorting to plant facilities levies to get around the supermajority requirement. A plant facilities levy requires only 55 percent approval but delays construction - a levy project can’t begin until a taxing district has enough money to pay for it.

After two failed bonds that attracted 60 percent and 56 percent support, Coeur d’Alene School District officials won an election Tuesday for a plant facilities levy for a third middle school. It received 62 percent of the vote. Unfortunately, to make the levy more palatable, the district trimmed Coeur d’Alene High School renovation work from its previous proposals.

The supermajority rule for bonds forces districts to settle for second-best. It allows a thin minority to stymie the clear will of the people. It’s not fair.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board