School-building bill advances
BOISE – A revised bill to address school construction funding cleared the House Education Committee Thursday, after a Democratic alternative plan to put tens of millions into construction and maintenance was killed.
“I don’t think either bill is perfect, but we need to address a problem. I like first steps that are not huge, and I like to be able to pay for what we’re going to walk into,” said Rep. Mack Shirley, R-Rexburg.
HB 743 is the latest House GOP bill reacting to an Idaho Supreme Court order declaring the state’s system for funding school construction unconstitutional. It would direct about $5 million in new, ongoing money to school maintenance next year. It also would create a $25 million loan fund to rebuild unsafe schools, but only after the state takes over a school district, appoints a supervisor who can fire the district superintendent and orders a no-vote property tax increase to pay back the money after district voters have specifically rejected the idea twice.
Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, a sponsor of HB 743, acknowledged the bill has been called “punitive or heavy-handed.” But “it’s not about that,” Bedke said. “It’s about getting the facility that they need in this area. We bend over backwards to try to get the locals to step up.”
Idaho’s system for building schools relies almost entirely on local property taxes. Because local taxpayers must vote by a two-thirds supermajority to raise their own taxes in order to build a school, and little state aid is available, Idaho is among the toughest states in the nation in which to build a school.
Three years ago, lawmakers created a program to match at least a portion of the interest costs for voter-approved local school bonds. But instead of funding it, they shifted money schools already were getting from the state lottery into the bond subsidy program, diverting lottery funds that many schools had used for building maintenance.
HB 743 stops that shift, calling for full state funding of the bond subsidy program in the future, in part with cigarette tax funds. That won’t cost much in the short term, but as more and more bonds pass, the cost will rise. It also taps into the lottery funds for a new maintenance program and orders schools to spend more of their other funds on maintenance.
The Democratic plan, HB 691, failed on a 4-14 vote in the committee, before the Republican bill passed 16-2. HB 691 would have created a $35 million fund to fix unsafe schoolhouses on an emergency basis, with school districts paying back the money through one of several options, but without the state takeovers or no-vote tax increases. It also included about $60 million a year in new ongoing state money for school building maintenance and construction, in part to match a portion of bond payments for all existing and future school bonds that voters around the state pass.
Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, said the big chunk of new state money would provide property tax relief. But, he said, “Should this be the policy of the state of Idaho, we would have to look at additional revenue sources.”
The Democratic bill sought to earmark a portion of state sales tax proceeds to fund the new program. But lawmakers already have started setting state budgets without setting aside that money.
Some committee members said the Republican bill’s approach penalizes school districts that passed bonds in past years, because they wouldn”t get state help to pay them off like districts that pass new bonds.
Committee Chairman Jack Barraclough, R-Idaho Falls, said the state can’t afford to go back and subsidize existing bond issues, as the Democratic plan proposed. “Of course, if you spend more money, it’s going to benefit more school districts, but if we can’t afford it …” he said.
Bedke cautioned, “I don’t want to mislead the committee. In 25 years our numbers are going to look a lot like 691. … We are going to be ramping up to a greater and greater ongoing cost. … Have no illusions, my colleagues – this is going to cost the state of Idaho a lot more money.”
House Majority Leader Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, also a sponsor of HB 743, was pleased the bill cleared the committee, but said, “This is only the start of the process. I predict that it will pass on the floor, and hopefully it has as good luck in the Senate.”
Both of the committee’s Panhandle members, GOP Reps. Marge Chadderdon and Bob Nonini of Coeur d’Alene, voted for HB 743 and against HB 691.