Post Falls schools at capacity? Look closer

It is often said that an argument is only as strong as the weakest point advanced in support of it. While not entirely accurate, when a school district comes to the voters with a levy proposal worth tens of millions, they had better have their facts in line. And they had better not be playing fast and loose with the numbers they claim support their "need."

In 2006, the Post Falls voters approved a $10 million school construction levy, mostly to build a new elementary school. While I paid for and sent out 26,000 letters asking the voters of Cd'A to vote no on their $40 million levy (which failed spectacularly), I supported the Post Falls levy, because they really did need the 500 student capacity West Ridge Elementary School they wanted to build. Imagine my surprise to see that they are now asking for $10 million for another elementary school, because the West Ridge Elementary, built in 2007, is over its capacity of ... 400 students! Intrigued, I went to the office to see what else looked questionable. I found that over the last decade, school "capacity" has been changed when a levy needed better numbers. For example, the district claims that the capacity of River City Middle School is 525, but the school district documents from Sept. 15, 2008 state that the capacity is 550, just 20 students less than the levy support sheet claims attend it. And, on that subject ...

The next most expensive project this levy asks for is a second-story classrooms addition at River City Middle School for $4 million. It appears that the combined number of students in the two middle schools is above their combined true capacity by...two students. In 2008, the long range planning committee recommended adding the second floor classrooms when the district's total number of middle school students reached 1,325, and we now have 1,327, according to the principal's office of each school. So if the middle schools are at capacity, don't we need to add on? If the school enrollment is growing significantly, probably. The good news is that enrollment is declining. This year, there were fewer students in the district than last year, and in 2014 the Post Falls School District has just 53 students more than they did in 2010. Over the next two years, middle school enrollment will rise and then decline, but not enough of a rise that an addition is needed.

So, what is the district really trying to do by adding classrooms on to one elementary school that is far below capacity, while falsely claiming that the school is over capacity? In looking back at the long range planning documents from 2008, we can find some clues.

The document states that while the Fredrick Post kindergarten school "has served our kindergarten students well," there is some dissatisfaction about traffic and parking. Reading further, several options are given about things that could be done to eliminate the need for continued use of the school as a kindergarten. Two options are to build another elementary school and add several classrooms to West Ridge Elementary School. If these things are done, it would allow the district to move the kindergarten students into the elementary schools. And as you may see a pattern here, it should come as no great surprise that those two items are in the levy request, but not justified by the false reason given (overcrowding of the schools) for their inclusion.

The last major expense involves adding a 500 or more person performing arts auditorium and a second gym onto the high school. The district claims that the gym is not large enough for the 1,516 student enrollment but the 2008 documents stated that the original school gym was designed for 1,600 students, and because they expected to reach that number in 2008, they would soon be justified in a request for another gym. Since the school is well below the number of students the gym was designed to serve (even all these years later), why would the district ask for money to build another gym? Is it just because they think nobody is going to research the facts and tell the public what is really going on?

It is my opinion that the Post Falls School District is nearly perfectly sized for their facilities with room to grow in both elementary and high school facilities, and plenty of room in all the schools in the district if they adjust the school attendance boundaries based on the fact that enrollment is beginning to drop. If the district wants a preforming arts theater for the high school, then perhaps they should ask the voters for exactly that, but to put $16.5 million of unwarranted construction into a $19.5 million levy to make the levy seem "necessary" is outrageous.

If you would like an absentee ballot mailed to you, just go to: http://www.kcgov.us/elections/forms/Absentee%20Ballot%20Application.pdf and download the form.

Larry Spencer is a Hayden resident.