Coeur d’Alene School District patrons shouldn’t be called stingy or uninterested in quality education in wake of the capital facilities levy failure Tuesday.

District voters have supported an unbroken string of bond and levy elections for 16 years, approving proposals that have constructed or overhauled school buildings from Fernan to the outer reaches of Hayden. Some voters went further for the sake of local children by approving a new Coeur d’Alene library and contributing $1.4 million in seed money for a possible Kroc Community Center.

So, why did the $39.8 million levy fail to gain even 45 percent of the vote?

Superintendent Harry Amend was partly correct in stating that rapidly escalating housing costs and taxes took their toll on Coeur d’Alene taxpayers. The higher property taxes made patrons susceptible to the siren call of detractors, including Larry Spencer of Athol, who fought the levy with a last-minute mass mailing, and the Idaho Values Alliance of Boise, which e-mailed members to urge a no vote to protest Lake City High’s recent approval of a gay-straight club.

Although rising property taxes were a major issue, they weren’t the only factor. School officials stubbed their toes badly last fall when they surprised an older neighborhood by announcing plans to rebuild Lakes Middle School at the popular Person Field play area. Also, they created mistrust by not fully explaining why $7.7 million approved under the current capital facilities levy hadn’t been used to renovate the middle school as promised. In an anti-tax climate, voters sought reasons to say no. The district should return with a scaled-down proposal to make them say yes.

That won’t be easy.

Without property tax relief from the Legislature this session, local governments will be battling one another to fund worthy projects from dwindling tax revenue, ranging from school buildings to jailhouse expansion. A good point can be made that the $50 million price tag on Kootenai County’s failed attempt to extend the local-option sales tax to fund another jail expansion spooked voters so much in November that they weren’t receptive to the levy campaign either. Area legislators will help schools and other local governments if their push for property tax relief is successful.

However, the district would be reacting in denial if it blamed Tuesday’s defeat entirely on the growing anti-property tax revolt. After all, voters in the Boise School District provided supermajority approval to pass a $94 million bond as part of a $116 million program to renovate, rebuild or consolidate school buildings. The Boise district shares many of the same problems as Coeur d’Alene: growth, increasing property taxes, and aging school buildings.

Most Coeur d’Alene school patrons understand that the projects offered by their district Tuesday were worthy. Generations of students who have attended Lakes Middle School, Winton or Borah realize that those facilities should have been replaced or remodeled years ago. In the current anti-tax climate, however, school officials have to determine which projects are worthiest, break them into bite-size pieces, and be honest with increasingly wary constituents.