District May Split, Wants Money For Study

Patrons in the Whitepine School District will decide next month on funding a study that would examine splitting the district.

During a meeting Tuesday, the school board voted to attach a separate $35,000 supplemental levy proposal to the as-yet-undetermined maintenance and operations levy election May 18.

The $35,000 would pay for the Matrix Group of Coeur d’Alene to study whether a plan can be developed splitting Whitepine between Troy and Deary, and Bovill and Elk River.

Patrons started considering a split after voters rejected a $7.2 million bond levy last November that would have built a new high school between Troy and Deary.

The current Troy High School, parts of which were built in 1905, has failed to meet state building standards. If the problems are not resolved within two years, the district stands to lose its state accreditation.

And the district last week was informed that it might lose another $200,000 in faculty salary and benefits because Deary has incorrectly been funded as if it were a separate school.

For that funding to be valid, schools must be at least 15 miles apart. Troy and Deary are 11.3 miles apart.