COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — The plant facilities reserve fund levy for the Coeur d'Alene Public School District failed to pass Tuesday night.
Out of the 11,003 ballots cast, 50.27% voted in favor of the levy and 49.73% voted against it. The levy needed 55% of the votes to pass.
The Coeur d'Alene Public School District says they need this levy funding to pay for some safety and maintenance needs that have been deferred. The levy would bring $8 million to the district every year for 10 years.
In addition, the levy would fund HVAC repairs, roof repairs, fix potholes and fund new safety features. The levy would also be funded by property taxes, costing taxpayers about $50 per $100,000 of property value.
Deputy Superintendent Mike Nelson says this levy is a necessity because the state of Idaho funds schools differently than most states.
"What we value are safe, engaging learning environments for kids," Nelson said. "And for us to provide those environments, we have to be able to come up with a way to pay for them."
As voting for this levy continues, the community is asking what happened to the millions of dollars of COVID funding the district has received.
According to our news partners at the Coeur d'Alene Press, the CDA School District got $26.57 million in federal COVID relief money. The first round of that money was designated specifically to pandemic-related spending.
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