Lakeland leadership to recommend district reruns levy
Lakeland Joint School District leadership is expected to recommend the Lakeland board of trustees rerun the supplemental levy during a special meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Lakeland High School commons.
In the meeting agenda posted Friday, district staff included a spreadsheet with what it would take to eliminate $9.52 million from the district's operating budget.
"This would be catastrophic for our students," it states in the superintendent recommendation of the board agenda request item, prepared by Lakeland's Chief Financial Officer Jessica Grantham, Superintendent Lisa Arnold and Assistant Superintendent Lynn Paslay.
Trustees have been tasked with deciding what to do regarding the district's two-year, $9.52 million-per-year replacement supplemental levy, which failed at the polls by a slim margin Nov. 5.
At the Dec. 18 meeting, trustees directed district staff to build an operating budget without the levy amount. The effort would include mass reductions, as the levy comprises about a quarter of the budget and funds athletics, extracurricular activities, security and safety and the gap in staff compensation and benefits that isn't paid for by the state.
The board has not definitively stated that it will rerun the levy, although Trustee Randi Bain said she would be in favor of running a levy election in May for $7.5 million.
Either way, Grantham will have to prepare two budgets — one with the $9.52 million reduction and another based on a levy amount approved by the board, if the board votes to hold a levy election in May.
At the top of the list of fiscal year 2026 prioritized reductions included in the agenda is a $2 million line item, "pay-to-play for athletics and co-curricular." Other large budget items up for reductions include salary-based apportionment average, not including benefits, $3.15 million; 16 Category 1 personnel, nearly $1.1 million; eight retirements and resignations, $912,370; nine assistant principals, $866,396.34 and eight elementary specialists, $613,730.
Lakeland High School is at 7006 W. Highway 53, Rathdrum.
Info: sd272.org