Whitepine Votes Down School Levy Without School Repairs, State Could Slash Funding

Whitepine School District voters rejected a $200,000 levy Tuesday that would have paid for school repairs.

With just 395 votes recorded, 164 supported the measure and 231 voted against it.

The vote comes about a month after residents approved a large slate of levies totaling more than $1.1 million. But those voters did not pass a $244,500 plant facilities measure for school repairs, so district officials scaled down their request and decided to try again.

Opponents have said administrators should be able to find money in last month’s levy to repair schools.

The election results are no surprise to Superintendent Harold Ott, who leaves at the end of the month to head the Lapwai School District.

“It would have been putting a Band-Aid on a major wound,” Ott said.

“A lot of people realized that. You can’t do major surgery with a Band-Aid.”

The $200,000 levy would have replaced fire escapes at Troy High School and would have moved the girls locker room to the current band room. The existing locker room has no fire exits and sits next to the school’s boiler room.

The levy would have also paid for a new floor in the multipurpose room at Bovill Elementary and would have fixed the heating system in the Deary High School gym and the floor joists in the school’s shop.

The nearly century-old Troy High School has failed state safety inspections and risks losing its accreditation, which means the state would slash the district’s funding. But Ott is doubtful that would happen.

“What are they going to do?” he asked.

“Are they really going to pull the funding for the entire school district? They’ll threaten it.”

School board Vice Chairman Brad Dorendorf said last week he is wary of sending students back to Troy High School if the levy failed.

Ott shares the same concerns.

“I feel uncomfortable, too,” he said. “I don’t know whether this was the right levy or not, but the board made the right decision to approve something. … We can look at the attorneys, if necessary, and say `We tried.”’