Taxpayers learn details of CdA schools levy

John Swallow understands some people’s hesitancy to pass levies that will increase their property tax.

“I’m definitely against higher taxes, trust me,” Swallow said.

But when it comes to education, people have always funded buildings and supplies for future generations, he said. That’s why he supports the upcoming levy for the Coeur d’Alene School District.

Swallow was one of about 30 people who attended a district meeting Wednesday evening to explain the proposal.

On March 14, voters will be asked to fund $40 million in construction projects over the next four years. The levy would pay to:

Replace Lakes Middle School and Winton Elementary School.

Remodel Borah Elementary School.

Build a new elementary school.

If the levy passes with at least 55 percent approval, people who own a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $163 extra each year.

People at the meeting looked over floor plans and fact sheets in the chilly cafeteria at Lakes. Superintendent Harry Amend began his remarks by saying that contrary to suggestions, he did not deliberately create the igloo effect for the meeting. Lakes’ heating and cooling system is one problem the district uses to illustrate why a new school is needed.

Swallow’s children are first- and third-graders at Winton. The downtown schools are old and run-down, Swallow said, and their students deserve facilities equal to those in other parts of the city.

During the meeting, Jeannie Jurgens, a reading teacher at Lakes, was reassured to learn an elevator is on the proposed floor plan. The new Lakes is designed as a three-story building; the current facility has two stories.

Afterward, Jurgens explained that she had been thinking not only of staffers who now have to lug supplies up the stairs, but also of a fellow teacher who recently hurt her knee. Jurgens doesn’t know how that teacher will use the stairs of the building when she gets back.

Because it does not have an elevator or ramp, the current building does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Mark Curtis, the father of a Lakes sixth-grader, asked why a new Lakes wasn’t constructed during the current levy, under which money was allotted for that purpose.

Amend replied that an unforeseen spike in construction costs meant that not enough money was left to do the Lakes project, so the remaining funds went toward a less expensive project on the list: expanding Ramsey Elementary School.

Amend added that the cost projections for the upcoming levy anticipate an estimated 5 percent increase in construction costs per year, which he hopes will prevent another delay.

Curtis later said he supports the levy. Lakes’ wear and tear is a distraction to students, who learn better when they’re in a comfortable setting, he said.

“The future of our whole nation relies on the education we give our kids.”