Plummer-Worley district first to tap state building fund

BOISE (AP) - A $25 million pool of money lawmakers set aside in 2006 - after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled the state's method of paying for school construction was unconstitutional - is being used for the first time.

The Plummer-Worley Joint School District in North Idaho is tapping more than $11 million from the loan fund to replace its elementary school, which was vacated last year after a state inspector found a roof in danger of collapse.

State officials signed off on the project earlier this month and preliminary work has begun.

The school district, which sits on the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation and has about 430 students, tried several times to persuade local property taxpayers to pass construction bonds and replace the 73-year-old building.

"Certainly people have a concern when there's something that would raise their taxes," said district superintendent Judi Sharrett. "Benewah County is not a wealthy area."

But after three years and three failed bond measures, the Idaho Division of Building Safety in July determined that the elementary school's roof could collapse under snow, making it unsafe during the winter.

Students who regularly attended Lakeside Elementary School in Worley were moved to the district's middle school in Plummer, where about 150 kids are in portable trailer classrooms.

"It wasn't a good long-term solution," Sharrett said.

With a narrowing list of options, Sharrett stumbled upon a relatively little-known pot of money lawmakers created four years ago after a scolding from the state's high court.

In December 2005, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled that the local bonding system lawmakers established to pay for school buildings is insufficient under the Idaho Constitution, leaving many students without a safe place to learn.

At the time, Idaho was the only state to provide no direct support for public school construction and require school districts to secure a two-thirds majority of voters to approve local construction bonds. The latter is still the case.

In response to the ruling, however, lawmakers did take some action and a year later drafted a measure to require school districts to deposit an amount equal to least 2 percent of their school building value into a maintenance account.

It also established a $25 million state loan fund that school districts could tap to fix safety problems.

Now, Plummer-Worley is poised to drain nearly half of the money and other administrators with aged buildings are also eyeing the fund, said state Board of Education spokesman Mark Browning.

To qualify, school districts first have to have buildings that have essentially been condemned. Then, they have to attempt at least three times to run a bond measure and raise the money locally to repair or replace the school.

If those measures fail, the district has to apply to the state's School Repair Fund Committee in order to tap the fund. If the committee, which includes education board director Mike Rush, approves the application, the district then has to run a fourth bond measure.

The Plummer-Worley School District's fourth attempt failed in February. The state will now pay for the new elementary school with money from the fund. Property owners in the district will have up to two decades to repay the $11.3 million.

Sharrett hopes to move her youngest students into the building in 2012.

"We were very aware we were the first school district to make an application to this funding," she said. "To me it didn't really matter how difficult it was, it was an opportunity to have a good learning environment for our kids."