EDITORIAL: PRESS ENDORSEMENT: Post Falls schools earn your support

Go ahead.

Call the major endorsement of Post Falls School District’s levy request heaven sent.

In a video posted last week, Real Life Ministries Pastor Jim Putman spends 19 minutes with PF Schools Superintendent Dena Naccarato. In that brief time, Putman and Naccarato dissect, simply and succinctly, the components of the school district’s $5.95 million per year request for two years.

They open with a brief discussion about how we got to this point, where property owners are asked, again and again, to step up to support their local public school districts.

Putman, with a teaching background and three sisters who are currently teaching, gets it — but he admits that he didn’t really understand initially.

In most places, the state pays for things like public school buildings and maintenance.

Not Idaho. Not since a 2006 property tax shift heaved those critically important responsibilities on individual taxpayers.

Putman implores recent Post Falls School District transplants to forget about how things were done wherever they came from and learn instead how things are done here.

“Don’t assume,” he says. “Don’t come angry. Come curious.”

The curious will learn that their school district reflects the social and moral values of the conservative community at large, Putman concludes.

He and Naccarato explain that the levy request is “fundamental,” not “supplemental,” as the state calls it, because the dollars help cover basic budget items like pay, maintenance and transportation.

This year, the request includes $1 million annually for school safety improvements without increasing what the average Post Falls School District taxpayer will spend on their schools.

The Press fully supports the school district’s "fundamental" levy request, which will appear on the March 14 ballot. Voters may contact VoteIdaho.gov now to have a ballot mailed to them.

We also greatly appreciate Pastor Putman’s commitment to making the community better. His support not just on this levy but in many partnerships with local school districts stands in stark contrast to some of his evangelical brethren in the Coeur d’Alene School District.

So, Post Falls voters, don’t assume.

Don’t come angry.

Just watch the video: https://bit.ly/3Yz0Y7X

Then vote YES on the March 14 Post Falls School District levy request.