COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Some of North Idaho’s K-12 education leaders implored lawmakers to consider changing the terms of supplemental levies, allowing voters to approve terms longer than two years.
Coeur d’Alene School District Superintendent Shon Hocker and Post Falls Superintendent Dena Naccarato appealed to legislators Monday afternoon in the Schuler Performing Arts Center on the North Idaho College campus. Their presentation was part of the 2024 Idaho Legislative Tour, which has brought lawmakers to Coeur d’Alene this week.
Existing law allows for supplemental levy terms of two years or in perpetuity. The Coeur d’Alene School District’s two-year, $25 million-per-year levy passed easily last week, with 61% of voters casting their ballots in favor.
“You can imagine that, every couple of years, it’s very challenging for our employees and our students to wonder whether there’s going to be funding for their positions and their opportunities,” Hocker told the assembled legislators.
Last March, voters rejected a perpetual supplemental levy by a margin of just 361 votes. When the levy went before voters again two months later, this time under a two-year term, it passed with 63% of the vote.
The supplemental levy funds about 25% of the Coeur d’Alene School District’s operations, Hocker said, making it essential. Without those funds, Hocker said the district would need to let go of about 325 employees and close four of the district’s 16 schools.
In the eight weeks between levy elections last year, Hocker said the district received important feedback from the community — that voters had grown weary of voting on levies every two years but were hesitant to commit to a “forever” levy.
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