Bond levies respond to growth

Jerry Keane says it’s no secret that the population of Post Falls is growing, and schools are feeling the crunch.

The Post Falls School District grew by 230 students this year, and the district expects enrollment to double by 2030. Enrollment at the four elementary schools is nearing or has already exceeded capacity. Post Falls High School, built in 2000, is packed.

To ease the pressure, the district is asking voters to approve a $10.9 million bond levy to fund construction of a new elementary school and additional classrooms at Post Falls High School. The goal, officials say, is to manage the growth incrementally.

“We know we need to try to manage this growth as best we can but do it in a conservative fashion,” said Keane, the school district’s superintendent.

At least two-thirds of voters must approve the bond levy for it to pass.

Voters rejected a $40 million bond levy proposal from the Coeur d’Alene School District in March, but Keane is hopeful Post Falls voters will recognize the substantial growth in their community and realize something must be done.

“The need is not going to go away,” Keane said.

If approved, the tax measure would provide $8 million for a new elementary school, $1.4 million for a pair of four-classroom additions to the high school, $725,000 for remodeling the district bus facility and $750,000 for buying land.

District enrollment grows an average of 3 percent a year, Keane said, but last year’s growth was about 4.5 percent.

The number of students graduating from eighth grade in the district last year was 420, Keane said, but 460 freshmen enrolled at Post Falls High this year.

“I think it’s pretty well documented that this community has grown and will continue to grow,” Keane said.

Seltice Elementary School has exceeded enrollment capacity; Prairie View, Mullan Trail and Ponderosa schools are getting close.

A long-range facility plan was drafted in 2002, and the district formed a committee in January to make recommendations about additional facilities.

“This committee didn’t feel like we could hold off any longer,” Keane said, adding that “we’ve actually waited longer than we really would have liked based on some of our enrollment issues.”

If the levy passes, the district expects the additional high school classrooms to be ready for the 2007-08 school year, and the elementary school and bus facility to be completed by 2008. The new school would be built on an 11-acre site known as the Montrose Development, located west of Chase Road, Keane said.

The proposed bond levy is the most cost-efficient way to get the money, he said, because the state of Idaho will pay nearly $400,000 in interest on the bonds.

Taxpayers will pay less for schools even if they approve the levy because the district recently refinanced existing bonds to save money, and a growing Post Falls population means more people will be shouldering the cost, Keane added.

The district predicts taxpayers will pay $1.92 per $1,000 of assessed value under the new levy, instead of $2.09 per $1,000 they’ve been paying under the existing levy.

The last school levy voters approved in the district paid for River City Middle School in 2002.

“We’ve had quite a pattern here of needing a new facility every four years,” Keane said.

With that in mind, the district wants to use $750,000 to buy land for future buildings. The money won’t buy much, but Keane said the district can couple new purchases with existing property.

“We’re getting to where we feel like we need to take some action really quick, or we’re going to be locked out of the Prairie,” he said.

The $725,000 needed to remodel the bus facility will make it easier to maintain about 40 buses owned by the district, Keane said. Built in the late 1960s, the facility is designed for 48-passenger buses, not the 72-passenger models the district uses.

“We can’t even get our buses fully into the shop,” he said.

Paying for these projects now will keep the district from having to ask for a substantially larger bond later when the growth continues and the need for new schools and more space becomes even more pressing, he said.

“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” Keane said.