Smallest school district in Idaho asking 18 voters for levy in November

Eighteen registered voters in Three Creek Elementary Joint School District will decide in November whether to approve a $33,750 supplemental levy to support the smallest school district in Idaho.

“In a big school district, if you’ve talked to 18 people, you’ve barely scratched the surface,” School Board Chairman Gus Brackett told the Times-News in an April interview. “In Three Creek, I can talk to 18 people, and that is the electorate.”

Three Creek had five students last school year, according to headcount data from the Idaho Department of Education.

The district has 11 registered voters in Owyhee County and seven in Twin Falls County.

Three Creek School District misses deadline to get levy on ballot in Twin Falls County

Teacher Dena Pollock helps Sophie Thompson, a third-grade student at Three Creek Joint Elementary, look up information on her computer in this October 2013 file photo. The tiny school district in November is asking 18 registered voters for a $33,750 supplemental levy.

Brackett said people often ask him why they keep the school open. The next closest schools are in Castleford, an hour drive mostly on dirt roads, or Hollister, about 55 minutes away on paved roads.

“These kids are entitled to an education under the constitution of Idaho and so that’s the question: Do you want a first grader riding the bus for 70 miles every day?” Brackett said. “That’s why we keep this school open.”

The school is sometimes called a one-room schoolhouse, but there are several rooms. There’s an original classroom and a second classroom, multipurpose room and kitchen from a 2012 bond, Brackett said.

Three Creek is classified as a remote, isolated, elementary school district.

“It is small but in a community like Three Creek it’s the only public building that we have,” he said.

The district attempted to run a similar supplemental levy in May, Owyhee County Elections Director Audra Yoshikane said Thursday, but there were some issues with the estimated levy rate for homeowners.

Those issues are now cleared up for the November election.

“It’s a very small school district,” Yoshikane said.

The two-year levy includes $30,000 each year for staffing, to hire a paraprofessional, and $3,750 for building maintenance.

There’s lots of deferred maintenance, Brackett said, and the HVAC system needs some work.

Brackett’s son, Will, is the former FFA state president. He moved on from the position in April.

‘One family’: 1,800 FFA students attend 94th annual state convention in Twin Falls

More than 1,800 FFA members recently attended a slew of expos, workshops, competitions and high-energy sessions at the College of Southern Idaho.

On his last day as president, Will Brackett told the Times-News that he plans to study animal science at the University of Idaho and then return to the family ranch.

Gus Brackett said he hopes one day his son will take over the school board position.

“Education in a remote and isolated area is difficult at best, and so you do what you have to do to make it happen,” Gus Brackett said. “My grandfather did it for my dad. My dad did it for me. I did it for my son and, at some point, my son will do it for his kids.

“That’s the expectation in this community.”