Little Value Gained By Penny Pinching

Wed., Sept. 25, 1996

By D.F. Oliveria daveo@spokesman.com (509) 319-0354

The difference in public support for school districts in Casper, Wyo., and Bonner County, Idaho, couldn’t be greater.

In Casper, the Natrona County School District received 79 percent voter approval in 1994 for a $16.5 million bond with a third earmarked for technology. In Bonner County, voters have refused three times to give majority approval to a levy needed to fix leaky roofs and buy books.

Said Donn McCall, Natrona County School Board chairman: “Our residents are conservative, too, but they put a high value on education.”

So, what’s the connection between the two school districts?

Max Harrell, the capable Bonner County schools superintendent, is one of six finalists for the Natrona County superintendent’s vacancy. The pay’s a little better. But that’s not the reason he wants out of Sandpoint after only one year of his three-year contract.

Harrell’s tired of trying to make ends meet in a district where patrons reject basic needs.

After a $995,000 levy failed in August, Bonner County school officials closed five Priest River Elementary School classrooms for safety reasons. Water from a leaky roof had seeped into the school’s light fixtures and electrical wiring. Three other schools also need roof repairs.

Such is life at ground zero of Idaho’s tax rebellion.

In Bonner County schools, essential needs like roof repair and textbooks go begging - as do “nonessentials” such as raises for underpaid teachers. As a result, good people like Harrell jump ship. And students suffer.

Patrons who regularly vote against school bonds and levies, with an eye only to the bottom line of their tax notices, are short-sighted. If they don’t provide funds for routine maintenance, they will pay more in the long run to replace schools. Taxpayers owe their children and grandkids the right to be educated in good schools, to learn from current textbooks, and to ride to school in safe buses.

Good administration isn’t a frill either.

Harrell, for example, has done much to restore confidence in a Bonner County School District rocked in recent years by controversy and questionable leadership. School board members sing his praise. They say he has the district moving in the right direction.

But they don’t blame him for wanting to abandon ship. Who wants to continue piloting a ship for owners who refuse to repair leaks?

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

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