BalanceNI challenges Legislature

On March 14, voters in Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Lakeland school districts will be asked to approve supplemental bonds and/or levies. The Balance North Idaho (BNI) Board of Directors voted unanimously to support these efforts. The districts are asking for taxpayer support in funding levies for school district operations and bonds or plant-facility levies for facility improvements allowing schools to better serve the growing number of children and make needed updates to facilities.

While we fully support the requests in all three districts, we feel there’s a bigger issue at work here. It’s time for the state to step up to its constitutional obligation to provide a common and uniform public school system.

Right now, it’s neither common— nor is it uniform. It varies widely based on district support of supplemental levies and bonds. And therein lies the problem.

According to Idaho Ed News, since July 2007, school districts have backfilled their budgets with more than $1 billion (that’s not a typo) in supplemental property tax levies. And in fact, Idaho property tax payers will be asked for a record $188.8 million in voter-approved supplemental levies in 2016-2017.

Many school leaders have said the levies are no longer supplemental at all, but instead provided essential backfill, particularly during the global downturn. Yet, these levies are an unstable and unpredictable source of funding since they run for only one or two years, forcing districts to continually go back to voters.

While many state legislators think this is an advantageous way to fund schools, we think it’s irresponsible at best as it risks exhausting the will and the patience of an already fatigued electorate.

How can our educators prepare our kids to keep up with the swift current of change in world today if they’re never really sure whether (or when!) the ‘no’ votes might edge out the ‘yeses,’ forcing them to shut down whole chunks of curriculum or to shutter a building because they can’t afford to repair a leaky roof?

Given that Idaho’s goal is to have 60 percent of the state’s young adults hold a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2020, we think it’s time to get to work, and some of that work starts with properly funding education and retaining great teachers with proper incomes.