[Vision2020] Boundary School Levy Back on Ballot

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (April 27, 2005) Spokesman Review.

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Boundary school levy back on ballot 
This time voters will be asked to consider two-year proposal
Taryn Brodwater
Staff writer
April 27, 2005

BONNERS FERRY - School sports and three rural elementaries in Boundary
County received a temporary reprieve Tuesday evening when trustees decided
to rerun a levy voters rejected last month.

Before that March vote, trustees had said the community would not get
another chance if the levy failed. Tuesday's reversal came on a 3-2 vote. 

"We better get it damn well right this time," said Boundary County School
District Trustee Tim Foust.

Trustees, who had already decided to reduce the school week to four days as
a cost-savings measure, have been struggling to slash $1 million from the
school district's budget since voters rejected the $799,700 maintenance and
operations levy. The levy was about $185,000 less than the one expiring this
spring - a levy which passed on a second attempt and only after the district
reduced its request.
 
The March 29 levy election followed the closure of the county's largest
private employer, CEDU private schools. Some blame the narrow failure of the
levy on bad timing, along with last-minute negative campaigning by the
Boundary County Property Owners Association, an anti-tax group.

Trustee John Lindberg on Tuesday criticized levy opponents for angry
comments about the board in the wake of the levy failure. He said he and
other board members have been called "socialists" and told they were
"ignorant" and "immoral."

Lindberg, of Naples, was critical of the change to a four-day school week,
which trustees approved last week and reaffirmed - without Lindberg's
support - Tuesday. He said Boundary County commissioners are planning to
increase their juvenile detention budget by $50,000 if students have a
permanent three-day weekend.

But Brenda Walter, the district's curriculum director, said staff members
had contacted other districts that had gone to a shorter school week,
including Challis and Orofino districts in Idaho.

"They said there was no increase in crimes or vandalism or anything," she
said. In fact, she said, those districts indicated that student attendance
improved and teacher absences decreased with a shortened school week.

The district estimated the move to a four-day week would save just over
$100,000, but Wilson said other savings could be realized through the
increase in daily attendance, which helps determine how much funding a
district receives from the state.

At Tuesday's packed school board meeting, Superintendent Don Bartling asked
trustees to reconsider the levy and, instead of asking voters to approve a
one-year levy, double it to two years.

Emotions ran high at the meeting, with board members arguing over how to
handle the reprisal of the levy.

Board Chairwoman Tina Wilson said she felt that the board needed to have a
firm proposal for cuts that would be made if the levy fails again. She
wanted the board to decide that matter Tuesday.

But Foust vehemently disagreed, saying the district needs firm and final
numbers before putting another levy before the voters. He suggested Bartling
and school administrators come up with final recommendations.

Foust said if the levy fails again, he wants the board to be able to meet
the following morning and approve the cuts.

Jim Adamson, a teacher from Naples Elementary, said he was concerned that
"threatening to close the outlying schools" has too often been a ploy used
to garner voter support. He questioned the effectiveness of leaving it up to
administrators to develop a list of recommended cuts in case the levy fails.

Adamson said he didn't think administrators would look at cuts to
administration.

Bartling said he plans to meet with the district's administrative team today
to discuss a proposal. The board will consider the administration's proposal
at a meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday in the high school gymnasium.

Foust criticized Adamson's suggestion that the "decision-making circle be
widened." Bartling "is the CEO of the district," Foust said.

Robert Del Grosso, a vocal critic of the levy effort, said the district is
making a serious mistake by breaking its promise to voters, and by adding
another year of the levy.

He said voters would be more likely to approve a lower levy for one year's
time.

"The board would have demonstrated to the community they're making every
effort to make cuts," Del Grosso said.

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Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they
are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

-- Robert F. Kennedy