Need for funds increases pressure on Cd'A schools

Coeur d’Alene School District is arm-wrestling with itself over what to do with an empty school building on Hayden Avenue and Government Way.

To the astonishment of some, a group of four well-known district patrons made a powerful pitch recently for the school board to sell Hayden Lake Elementary School and use those proceeds to help fulfill what they said were promises of high school upgrades from years ago. To address the pressing need of more classroom space, this contingent urged construction of a new school several miles west of Hayden Lake Elementary.

Then this week, the arm-wrestling continued, but not over whether to keep or sell the old school, which has been sitting vacant for some time. The struggle now is whether to make it a magnet school — a school that specializes in one or more areas — or to make it a traditional neighborhood school. There are good arguments for both. A magnet school helps public schools compete for excellent students by offering strong curricula more frequently found in private and charter schools. But a magnet school is risky. What if you need 300 students to fill it, and only 50 apply? That’s where a neighborhood school might make more sense.

How the district handles the Hayden Lake Elementary situation takes on heightened meaning not just because the district is suffering some growing pains, but because its management of money and other resources is under increasing scrutiny. The school district is formulating what could be a huge “ask” of property owners in the form of both a levy and a bond issue in less than six months, and voters will judge the district accordingly.

Because of an Idaho Legislature-fueled property tax shift 10 years ago, public schools now must go to voters every two years for funding just to keep the lights on. On March 10, 2015, Coeur d’Alene School District voters graciously approved a $30 million levy over two years that helps pay basic operating costs. Voters clearly understood that without those funds, massive layoffs would have been accompanied by overcrowded classrooms in a dramatically weakened education environment.

A similar request is certain to be headed voters’ way next March, with much more potentially being added to the ballot. The district is growing and needs more classrooms, but that’s outside levies’ domain. A levy is for operations, for programs and services. New buildings and other capital projects are financed by bond issues or special plant facility levies. That’s why a combination of requests to property owners is certainly possible next March.

But school officials might struggle to find broad support — bond issues require a two-thirds vote to pass — if the district makes what voters perceive to be poor financial decisions in the next few months. Coeur d’Alene School District now stands naked before an optically powerful window that will show voters every single blemish. And you’d better believe the public is watching.