Bonner School Split Up To Voters, State Says Education Board Says Ballot Box Is Best Way To Let Priest River, Sandpoint Decide If They Wish To Form Separate Districts
It’s now up to Bonner County voters whether to approve an amicable divorce of the East and West sides of the state’s most spreadout school district.
The State Board of Education voted Thursday to let voters in the 1,900-square-mile district decide in December whether to split District 82, with Priest River operating separately from Sandpoint.
If successful, it would be the first time since 1972 that an Idaho school district has separated.
“The issue of dividing the school district has been a festering sore for a long, long time,” said Ann Souza, chairwoman of the Bonner County School Board. “Our patrons feel they can’t know what’s going on in the district. We’re too big.”
The district has 16 schools, some more than 100 miles apart. Priest River residents have long complained they get less attention and money than their neighbors in Sandpoint.
Even state Superintendent of Public Instruction Anne Fox, in introducing discussion of the proposed split Thursday, referred to District 82 as the “Sandpoint District.”
“People think of it as Sandpoint and Priest River, and that’s probably one of our problems,” Superintendent Roy Rummler replied.
The Bonner County district was consolidated in 1950, and district officials have worked for the past several years to divide the school system. They hired a consulting firm, the Coeur d’Alene-based Matrix Group, several months ago to write a plan for the split.
The consultants estimate it will cost the state about $400,000 to pay for the new teachers and administrators required after changing the districts’ populations. And that had some state board members worried.
“That division spreads the burden among the whole state,” said Roy Mosman, who voted against the split.
The student population and taxable property would be divided along current attendance zones, an estimated 70-30 split.
Some board members cautioned that by approving the Bonner County separation, they would set a precedent for other feuding districts to request a split.
“Will we have adopted a frustration standard?” asked Curtis Eaton, who also rejected the proposed division.
But Fox, who said it took her 11 days to thoroughly tour the spread-out district, said District 82 is unique.
“There is no other district that has that degree and amount of problems,” Fox said. “Sandpoint has the biggest problems.”
DIVIDING LINES If voters approve, the Bonner County School District, which has 16 schools, some more than 100 miles apart, would be divided along current attendance zones, an estimated 70-30 split.