Enrollment looking up in Post Falls

Post Falls' student population is up about 1.5 percent from last year, qualifying the school district for $414,319 in emergency levy funding.

Numbers in Coeur d'Alene and Lakeland, meanwhile, are down slightly, so those districts are not eligible for such funds.

Post Falls' school board on Friday certified the levy based on an increase of 85 students.

"The vast majority of the money will be used to fund additional staff positions due to the growth," Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said. "However, some of the money will be spent for supplies, equipment and curricular materials."

State law allows growing school districts to obtain emergency levy funding to handle growth. The levy will not raise taxes.

Post Falls' student population, which is now up to 5,620, has increased at least 10 straight years. Last year the district qualified for an emergency levy of $389,000.

The biggest school increase in Post Falls is at Prairie View Elementary, up 65 students and 13 percent from last year.

"Prairie View was most surprising," Keane said, adding that first- and fourth-grade teachers are being added at the school. "We anticipated growth, but not that much."

Post Falls High is up 55 students, Post Falls Middle School 40 and West Ridge Elementary 25.

Fourth-grade teachers are also being added at West Ridge and Ponderosa, while French and PE teachers are being added at the high school.

"Some of the new teachers will start on Monday, others started this week," Keane said.

The average daily attendance for the first three days of school in Coeur d'Alene was 10,013 this year compared to 10,025 last year.

"Attendance rates at some of the schools were down a bit," said Steve Briggs, the district's chief financial officer.

But the dropoffs are not significant.

"We're pretty close to where we were last year, but we're still operating under very tight budgetary conditions," Briggs said.

Tom Taggart, Lakeland's finance director, said that district has 4,423 students, nine less than last year at this time.

"We've gone back and forth on the number in recent years," he said, referring to increases or decreases.

Taggart said there aren't any significant population changes in any of the Lakeland schools.

"No one school has been impacted one way or another," he said. "We had a few specific grades with high numbers and have made some last-minute hires to keep class sizes down."