School enrollment gains drive emergency levies

The Lakeland School District added 10 teachers this year to deal with the growing population of students, especially in the northern part of the district.

The increase in students, about 150 from the previous year, means the district needs more books and other supplies, too.

More teachers, more books and more supplies mean Lakeland needs more money.

The district and several others in North Idaho are seeking emergency levies this fall. The state allows local school boards to authorize an emergency levy based on increases in enrollment. For each student over the previous year’s enrollment, districts can seek about $4,200.

Lakeland is asking trustees to authorize the maximum amount for a total of $516,795.

The district’s 3.6 percent increase in students, for a total of about 4,300 students, is higher than the 1 percent increase the district has seen for the past couple of years. It’s the largest increase since the late 1990s, when Lakeland grew from 5 percent to 10 percent each year.

“It’s kind of taken a little spike here,” Superintendent Chuck Kinsey said.

Coeur d’Alene plans on asking trustees to approve an emergency levy at next week’s board meeting. Last year, Coeur d’Alene received $970,000 in emergency levy funds.

Business Manager Steve Briggs said this year’s growth is comparable and the district will likely be entitled to about as much money as last year.

Enrollment was at 9,760 students as of Thursday, a 2.5 percent increase from 2003-04.

Much of the growth was at the secondary level, but Briggs said district elementary schools also felt the impact. The district’s southern schools lost a few students to the schools on the north end of the district, Briggs said.

“The southern schools are a little challenged,” Briggs said. “The number of students in the attendance zones in the south is decreasing. It kind of crowds one part of the district.”

Post Falls has 116 more students this year for a total of 5,042.

“I’ve been here for 12 years and we’ve increased every year for 12 years,” Business Manager Sid Armstrong said. “We’re just continuing our trend of growing every year. I don’t really see an end to it.”

Armstrong said the growth was a bit less than the district’s long-range projection of 3 percent a year, but still more than the district was expecting. The increase was largest at the middle school level, he said.

But because the district’s second middle school, River City, opened this year, Armstrong said the district “had the luxury of spreading out a little bit.”

District officials plan to meet with trustees today to discuss an emergency levy.

Lake Pend Oreille schools had about 60 more students enroll this year. The district announced this week that it plans to seek an emergency levy to fund salaries for additional teachers and buy books and supplies.

“We will recommend levying only enough to cover actual expenses,” Superintendent Mark Berryhill said in a press release. That’s likely less than what the district’s allowed to collect by state law, he said.

The district’s trustees will meet 6:30 p.m. Monday at Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School to discuss the levy.