Hoffman: School levy and bond elections

Take for example the Middleton School District in Canyon County, where fewer than 10 percent of registered voters on Tuesday turned out to approve a $2.6 million supplemental levy. Districts, of course, thrive on these low-turnout affairs.

Although the school district’s request for money is immediate, the fact is not a single dollar will be drawn for the levy until December 2016. Keep in mind that the Legislature will meet in January, and if it follows the course of the last legislative session (where spending for K-12 education increased by 7.4 percent), lawmakers will likely continue shoveling piles of money into public schools. Middleton school officials can’t plausibly know what “supplemental” money it needs from taxpayers until at least after the 2016 legislative session. More here IdahoEdNews, Wayne Hoffman

Thoughts?