Listen first, decide later

Now that some of you have played polar bear and had your New Year's ice bath, it's time for some chilly refreshment for everyone else.

'Tis the season to determine how much extra funding our schools are going to need.

In just over a week - Jan. 10 - both Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls school districts will decide how much additional funding they'll seek from property taxpayers in the form of two-year supplemental levies.

In one sense, "supplemental" is not an ideal word. School districts around the state have become so dependent on these add-ons that their elimination would lead to serious trouble. Yet in another sense, "supplemental" is appropriate: In these days of diminished state revenue, school districts need to cut budgets wherever they can without radically reducing the quality of education, and in the meantime, find enough funding elsewhere to do their constitutionally mandated duties.

Even if districts set supplemental levy rates at existing levels, they'll immediately find themselves behind the 8-ball because state funding is likely to get worse before it gets better. The earthquake of a recession might technically be over, but its aftershocks are still rattling fillings and making life difficult for businesses, taxpayers and, yes, those who manage our public schools. Because of anticipated cuts in state funding, passage of supplemental levies at their current levels assures districts that they will lose financial ground anyway; in the Coeur d'Alene district, to the tune of millions of dollars.

In our view, for districts to successfully float their supplemental levies later this spring, they'll need to first convince taxpayers that they have done everything possible to cut spending without crippling quality education. Even then, if they ask what taxpayers perceive as too much, districts risk getting nothing - even if they ask in the form of a menu of options. And that would be disastrous.

That's why we encourage the public to listen openly to the districts' explanations of how they're addressing these difficult financial times. That doesn't mean the public has to ultimately agree that those explanations justify increased supplemental levies, but it does mean the issues will receive the serious consideration from the public that they deserve.

Respectfully, "no more taxes" is not the right answer. At least, not until all the alternatives have first been openly discussed and then honestly considered.