Board may rethink schools split

The State Board of Education may reconsider a proposal to split the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

In April, the board voted nearly unanimously to deny a request to deconsolidate the Bonner County District. The grassroots Hope-Clark Fork Coalition for Quality Education supports breaking Hope and Clark Fork schools away to form a new and separate district.

The Lake Pend Oreille School District had hired a consultant to plan for the district split, anticipating that the state board might approve it.

After the board denied the request, the coalition appealed.

In August, people for and against the split testified in front of a State Board hearing examiner. Some school faculty fear that the split will result in fewer resources for the small Clark Fork/Hope district.

The coalition had argued that the two small schools would garner more public support if they were separate from the district, and they would have better luck passing levies. The board voted against the proposal after noting that the state was moving toward consolidation of school districts, not the creation of additional, smaller districts.

The testimony from the August hearing has been presented to board members, said spokeswoman Luci Willits.

Willits said a board member must make a motion to reconsider the proposal at this week’s board meeting. If no board member does, the appeal has been rejected.

Bonner County has some recent history with the process of deconsolidating.

In 1998, voters approved the separation of the Priest River-area schools from the Bonner County School District to form the West Bonner School District. The Bonner County School District then changed its name to Lake Pend Oreille School District.

The State Board of Education will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the Williams Conference Center at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston.