Cd'A schools levy fails: 50% of voters approved, but 55% supermajority needed for passage
A voter steps out of a polling place at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene during an August 2022 election.
BILL BULEY/Press file
The Coeur d'Alene School District's $8 million-per-year, 10-year safety and maintenance levy failed to reach the 55% voter approval needed for the levy to pass Tuesday night.
Results from the Kootenai County Elections Office, with 100% of precincts reporting, showed 5,381 people — 50.27% — voted to approve the levy request while 5,323 — 49.73% — voted against it.
"Although we didn’t receive the outcome we were hoping for, we will continue the conversation with our community about the financial support needed to ensure our schools are safe and secure learning and teaching environments for our students and staff," said Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Shon Hocker.
"The need to improve school safety and address serious maintenance problems in our buildings remain a high priority for the Coeur d’Alene School District," he said. "We need to find a way to address these projects, and time is of the essence. This will only get more expensive the longer we wait."
The Plummer-Worley Joint School District had a win at the polls. Voters passed its $627,500-per-year, two-year supplemental levy request with 480 votes (58.68%) in favor and 338 (41.32%) against. The supplemental levy needed 50% voter approval to pass.
The funds will be used to help enhance safety and security measures and maintenance projects, as well as support athletics programming and staffing needs.
"It's going to be nice to put this behind us because we’ve been working on this for the last eight months, trying to educate folks," Plummer-Worley Superintendent Russ Mitchell said Tuesday night.
Plummer-Worley attempted a supplemental levy election earlier this year that failed after receiving only 46% voter approval.
"The community itself was more engaged this time," Mitchell said. "There was a lot of door-knocking that took place. There were caravans of teachers and students who went through the communities, honking and promoting this levy. Last time we seemed to be looking uphill all the time."