My Turn: 'Reckless rhetoric:' A school board rebuttal
We’re glad our community is talking about school levies and wanting to learn more. Everyone should know this essential funding will continue the educational opportunities benefitting our children. Levy dollars are at work in every classroom of our 19 schools, from teachers to textbooks to technology. Voters have backed our levy without fail for the past 35 years -- a legacy all of us can celebrate.
In these divisive times, some are urging residents to reject all school levies, defund our school police officers, cut teacher pay, end support for skilled trades education at KTEC, and threaten our school sports, music and arts programs. They are twisting facts and spreading falsehoods to confuse or mislead voters.
We don’t think this community wants any part of that. We owe it to each other to be well informed before casting votes that have a consequential and lasting impact on kids, their families and the vitality of our community. Our district is extremely fiscally responsible and great stewards of public dollars, spending about $7,300 per student while the national average is nearly $12,000.
Brent Regan took aim at our levy in a guest column last week. There seems to be a lack of understanding in how our levy works and intentional omission of context to his statements. For example, he cites how many of the highest paid state employees work in education administration, but fails to mention that is largely higher education, like college coaches and presidents, and has nothing to do with K-12 education or our levy.
Regan claims a lower cost of living in Idaho justifies the comparatively low amount we spend on public education, but ignores the surging home prices here that make it nearly impossible for new teachers to find housing they can afford. He laments that schools have “translators for dozens of languages.” Coeur d’Alene Public Schools does not employ “translators.” We have one instructor and one part-time staff member who help students learn English.
In his worst misrepresentation, Regan states that for every teacher in our district we have “about 2 ‘not-teacher’ administrators.” We have 563 teachers in our district and 50 administrators. The latter includes 18 principals, 19 assistant principals, and 13 on the District leadership team.
We have 615 custodians, bus drivers, librarians, mechanics, kitchen workers, secretaries and other classified staff. Some would argue their pay can be cut to give teachers a raise. These employees are an indispensable part of our team, and our schools couldn’t function without them. Every employee plays a valuable role and should be paid a wage that makes living here affordable.
Regan brings up KTEC, the successful campus where high school students are engaged in hands-on learning in construction trades, health professions, welding, automotive technology, computer repair and other high-demand careers. He claims they get it done without relying on school levies.
In truth, the voter-backed levies in the Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland districts are a major source of funding for the Kootenai Technical Education Campus. Coeur d’Alene alone provides over half a million dollars annually to KTEC. If the supporting levies go down, that school would suffer a devastating blow to what it offers students in Kootenai County.
For those who ask how charter schools do it without a local levy, the answer is simple. The Coeur d’Alene district provides a larger variety of services for a larger population of students with a much more diverse set of circumstances. We educate every kid who walks through our doors, including 1,000 students with special needs. It costs more to educate elementary students than those at the secondary level. We must transport and feed students as well.
Let us offer some clarity on Regan’s numbers game.
Our levy expires in four months. We propose replacing it at the same amount for two more years. This is not a new or additional tax on your bill.
The school tax rate was $2.38 per $1,000 back in 2015. Since then, it has dropped by 59 cents, and we project it will fall again this November, to $1.71. That’s one of the lowest of the state’s largest school districts. As more people move here, they take on a share of funding local services, including schools. The taxable value of all property goes up, but the school tax rate continues to fall.
Our local levy covers a big gap in state funding. It’s 25 percent of our operating budget, and helps us pay for nurses, new buses, instructional materials, School Resource Officers, technology, building repairs, suicide prevention, mental health support for students, and staff pay. The salary total for all teachers, including those who work in special education and with children with exceptional needs, is 63 percent of our general fund payroll. Administrator salaries total 8.4 percent.
For the last 35 years this community has said students deserve more than what state funding provides. We’ve enriched the learning experience with classes in technology, business, music, art, engineering, law and much more. Students benefit from athletics and other extracurricular opportunities from elementary school through high school. Our students thrive from opportunities not available in other districts.
It’s no bluff to state much of what makes school rewarding and appealing to students would be in jeopardy if our levy goes away. Cutting $20 million a year from our schools would be devastating to students and families, bruising to the local economy, and a blow to our community’s reputation for supporting public education. Funding education should not be a divisive or political issue for our community.
Don’t be deceived by the reckless rhetoric of those who would dismantle what this community has built together. If Idaho fully funded education, it would not be necessary for school districts to turn to their communities for help. That’s not the system we’re operating under, and hasn’t been for decades. We have had strong community support for our local levy for 35 years, and with that we are able to meet the expectations of this community.
A vote March 9 to replace our expiring levy, with no increase, continues the legacy of commitment to better education for our children.
Jennifer Brumley, Chair
Rebecca Smith, Vice Chair
Coeur d’Alene School Board
