Moving forward in Cd'A School District

The day after voters passed the Coeur d'Alene School District's supplemental levy, school board trustees unanimously voted to rescind a financial emergency declaration.

The declaration was made April 21 in a 3-2 vote after a proposed $25 million-per-year, perpetual supplemental levy failed at the polls March 14. An emergency declaration allows the reduction in force notification process to formally begin when Idaho's school districts face major changes to their operating budgets. It also allows trustees to use different approaches to contract negotiations if needed.

The second attempt to pass a supplemental levy — this time for $25 million a year for two years — was successful May 16, with about two-thirds (63.47%) of voters casting favorable votes.

People are again looking to the future and what lies ahead for Coeur d'Alene.

"It feels like I have a giant weight off my shoulders," Lindsey Swingrover, outgoing Coeur d'Alene School District Long Range Planning Committee chair, said Tuesday. "I know my kids were stressed about it."

While the supplemental levy passed on the second try, two attempts to float a school plant facilities levy, described as a safety and maintenance levy, failed: first an $8 million-per-year, 10-year request in August and a $5 million-per-year, five-year request in March.

"It is bittersweet, especially getting my mind back in the long-range mindset," Swingrover said.

The long-range planning committee brought recommendations for the facilities levy to the school board after spending a couple years researching, visiting school sites and examining what the needs are in the district. Funds from this levy would have paid for safety and maintenance needs, such as heating and cooling systems, plumbing, electrical, flooring, fencing, security cameras and door access controls.

Specific projects are on district's website and can be viewed at cdaschools.org.

At the committee's Monday meeting, Swingrover said transparency was a big topic.

"You constantly hear this repeated refrain that 'the school district has to be transparent,' but every dollar is on the website," she said, adding it may take innovative ways to disseminate information about the district's needs to more people in the community, especially regarding the many pages of district finances found at cdaschools.org/finance.

"It's hard to try to be creative about how to get information to people," she said. "How do you weed it out and make it accessible?"

The district's deferred maintenance backlog of projects was at $25 million in June 2022. At that time, it was expected to increase to $68 million by 2027.

The decision when and if to run another levy to tackle these projects, will be a decision for the new committee, Swingrover said.

At Monday's meeting, the committee conducted its annual leadership election. Michelle Johnson was selected as chair-elect, and Jason Hover will serve as co-chair.

The committee's next meeting will be in September.