Schools Under Fire Boundary County Schools Facing Financial Crunch, Unfriendly Voters

FOR THE RECORD (April 23, 1997): Correction Misspelled name: Mary Ann Luedtke teaches at Bonners Ferry High School. Her name was misspelled in an article about Boundary County (Idaho) schools in The Spokesman-Review on Monday.

Like the snow that fell in winter and mudslides that hit this spring, Boundary County has more than its share of the problems that plague Idaho public schools.

Some blame apathy of voters, inadequate state support, and the two-thirds majority vote needed to pass building bonds.

But many school employees and supporters note that the district’s woes have increased in the 1990s as the voices of tax protesters have increased.

“The anti-government immigrants are changing things,” said veteran teacher Mary Ann Luetke. “This isn’t the old North Idaho.”

Darrel Cupp said the school district is to blame for its troubles.

He moved here three years ago, and is spokesman for the Boundary County Property Owners Association.

The group has led opposition to recent bond and levy elections, three of which failed last year alone. Its complaints are both fiscal and philosophical.

“The school board gets about 2.5 times what it takes to run the entire rest of the county. That’s astounding. They get over $7 million a year,” Cubb said.

“We realize they need to replace at least one school building, maybe more. When they’re willing to sacrifice … to cut salaries across the board, put more emphasis on good education … we’ll be willing to sit down and talk.”

School district employees say they’re already sacrificing.

At the junior high, they work to keep ice off the ground so kids don’t fall coming into the portable classrooms. At Valley View Elementary, they pick up cans on their lunch hour and sell the aluminum for supplies.

Junior high principal Terry Sherven recalls exhausting fund-raisers to buy carpet and plant grass when he was at Mount Hall Elementary.

“Teachers take out of their own pockets what they can’t get from the public (for supplies),” said Cathy Funkhouser, the mother of five and a substitute teacher. “When you’re a beginning teacher making $19,700 a year, that’s a little difficult.”

The teachers earn less than their counterparts in many school districts, and are demoralized that they’re working without a contract. They’re at an impasse with the school board, which has no more money for them.

“I don’t care what the other school districts are getting,” Cupp said. “This is not Boise. This is not Coeur d’Alene. We’re socio-economically deprived.

“The average income up here is probably around $19,000, and the average teacher gets more than that.”

Bob Vickaryous, a farmer who’s a stalwart member of the property owners group, is outraged by the $62,000 salary of school superintendent Reid Straabe.

Just before the last levy election, the association published that figure in a newspaper ad. Straabe said that’s partly to blame for the levy’s defeat.

Straabe shakes his head at the group’s claim that he demanded that salary.

“That’s not how it works,” said Straabe, who was hired last year. “They call and offer you the job, and say ‘This is what it pays.”’

His salary is $4,000 less than the average Idaho school superintendent is paid, Straabe said, and $8,000 below that for districts this large.

If it takes that kind of money to hire a qualified superintendent, Vickaryous said, the school board should change the qualifications.

Vickaryous had a brief stint on the board, getting elected in 1992. He resigned before his term was up.

Vickaryous admits his political beliefs influence his view of the school district, referring to teachers’ “open and blatant globalistic brainwashing programs.”

He said the schools are in cahoots with environmentalists and “left-wing groups.”

Dave Walter, a banker and a teacher’s husband, refers to Vickaryous and like-minded people as “the fringey types” who do battle with the schools.

He notes that there also are a lot of home-schoolers in Boundary County who are unlikely to support the schools, since they don’t trust them with their children. Cupp is one of them.

The district has many supporters as well. Walter notes that a 1992 election to build a junior high school got 64 percent of the vote. It was foiled by the two-thirds “supermajority” requirement.

Support for the district can be low-key, however. People who campaign for school elections say businesses sometimes contribute with the stipulation that their support not be publicized.

Leonard Kucera is not surprised by that. Kucera has been on the school board for 20 years. He’s also manager of Boundary County Grain Co., where he doesn’t discuss schools with customers unless they bring up the subject.

“This county was settled by a bunch of independent folks,” said Kucera. “If they see a business that’s not supportive of what they believe in, they take their business elsewhere.”

The school district, he added, is an easy target for people who don’t trust any level of government to spend their money wisely.

Cupp recently spoke with Kucera, and said he’s looking for some middle ground with the school board.

The Property Owners Association is not against public education, Cupp insists. He points to a cash-prize essay contest that the group is sponsoring, asking students to demonstrate an understanding of the Constitution, sovereignty “and especially money issues.”

Cupp is disturbed by reports of drug use and the “poor product” the schools are turning out, although he said he has no personal knowledge of either.

Such talk outrages Luedtke.

The high school English teacher said 75 percent of Boundary County graduates go on for more schooling - an unusually high number. School opponents spread unfounded rumors about student behavior, she said.

“I’m a property owner and I understand their point of view. I truly do,” she said. “What I don’t understand is where they get the rumors about the high schools. That kids drink at school. The kids are running the classrooms. That’s just not true.”

In interviews with school district employees, the most-repeated phrase is: “Things have to get better. They can’t get any worse.”

John Asher has been saying that for five of his seven years working for the district. Tired of having to “beg, beg, beg” for community support, the Valley View Elementary principal is leaving to take a job in Rathdrum.

Many good Boundary County teachers are looking elsewhere for work, Asher said. He fears his two children won’t get a good education if they remain in school here.

Warren Santoro and his wife came to Boundary County to escape inner-city schools. Now he’s principal of both Mount Hall and Evergreen elementaries.

There’s talk of closing Evergreen, which serves tiny Moyie Springs, if this week’s levy election fails.

Santoro sees irony in that, given the politics of many levy opponents.

“This is precisely what the so-called conservatives have been crying for nationwide - a small, quality school. There’s no gym, no library, no cafeteria. Just a devoted staff and supportive community.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos