PF to float school levy

The Post Falls School District will ask voters to approve a two-year supplemental levy for $4,955,000 per year — a total of $9,910,000.

The levy request is a $300,000 increase per year from the district’s existing levy.

Board members voted 4-0 Monday to put the levy on a March 14 ballot. A supplemental levy is a local property tax Idaho school districts can ask voters to approve to augment state funding for maintenance and operations. Successful passage requires more than 50 percent of the vote.

Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said the levy, if approved, will be used for necessities like textbooks and to update technology.

“Like most districts, we fell behind during the Great Recession,” Keane said. The district is now trying to get its curriculum caught up to where it needs to be, he said.

In a letter to the district’s board of trustees, board chair Dave Paul said the curriculum and technology updates are critical.

“We really need to focus on our English Language Arts and Science — they haven’t been updated in a few years,” he said. “We also need to update the memory in the (computer) systems in the schools. When you add it up, it’s a fairly conservative update.”

The Post Falls School District estimates that, should the levy pass, tax rates won’t go up. In fact, the district said they may even go down.

“Of course, a great concern to us is to make sure we’re not raising taxes,” Paul said. “I think it’s so important for the community to support replacing our curriculum. I think, well I’m hopeful, that community support would be great.”