District hopes voters will come around

The Boundary County School District is hoping a few more people like Jim Paulus will hit the polls Tuesday.

Paulus was a “no” voter in a March 29 levy election that narrowly failed, but he plans to vote “yes” Tuesday when the district reruns the levy in hopes of sparing school sports, activities, jobs and even a rural elementary school.

Paulus said he was under the assumption that levies were like a running tab. He didn’t realize that the levy proposal replaces an expiring levy.

“I’ve been in Bonners a long time, but I feel like a real dope,” Paulus said.

Because the levy being put before voters is $185,000 less than the expiring levy, the school district says taxpayers would see a 19 percent decrease from the current levy.

Originally, the district said that if the levy failed, voters wouldn’t get a second chance. But the school board reconsidered and now, instead of asking voters to approve a one-year levy, they doubled it to two. Voters would pay $799,700 each year of the levy.

Superintendent Don Bartling said “honest to God” this will be the district’s last attempt to pass the levy. The district has drawn some criticism for reneging on its promise to run the levy only once.

Property owner Bob Del Grosso said he didn’t agree with the district’s decision to extend the levy to two years. He describes the decision as “a penalty for the taxpayers by doubling the amount.”

Bartling said the two-year levy would allow the district to “stabilize its budget” and give the district and voters another year’s break before running another levy.

If Tuesday’s levy fails, Bartling said, trustees plan to meet that same evening to make drastic budget cuts. All extracurricular activities and sports would be cut. Textbooks – already outdated – wouldn’t be replaced. Principal positions would be cut at all the rural elementaries. Naples Elementary would be closed. Technology funding would be reduced, and a handful of jobs would be lost.

Bonners Ferry Mayor Darrell Kerby said he’s optimistic the levy will pass this time. The Bonners Ferry native said he can’t stomach the reality of what would happen if it doesn’t.

“The effort of the community to diversify its economy and retain professionals and young families in the community to create new living-wage jobs would be severely crippled by the school system’s decimation,” Kerby said. “This levy is way more than a simple M&O (maintenance and operations) levy. This levy is the survival of the school system.”

Bartling said extracurricular activities and sports are important for many reasons. Some students say activities keep them in school and out of trouble. Research backs up the positive impact of sports and activities.

“The prospect of having every teenager in the county with nothing to do for a year is almost frightening to begin with,” Kerby said. “I don’t believe I could hire enough police officers to take care of 700 teenagers with nothing to do.”