EDITORIAL: Proof that some priorities unite us

Amid the joyous celebrations in the aftermath of the Nov. 5 elections is a lingering hangover in some quarters no matter how much mental and emotional Alka-Seltzer is consumed.

Here's a broad dose of optimism: Voters’ passage of Coeur d’Alene School District’s $50 million replacement levy.

The result came despite many district patrons feeling financial uncertainty, if not outright pain. While the levy will not increase property taxes, its failure would have put a couple grocery carts’ worth of food on families’ tables over the next two fiscal years. 

Understanding that the personal savings would come at tremendous community cost with weakened public schools, a strong majority of voters accepted their responsibility and the tax burden that goes with it.

At times in the not so distant past that didn’t look like a certainty.

Earlier this year, the district’s leader, Superintendent Shon Hocker, sought employment elsewhere, not just once but twice. Both times he was a finalist. Both times he stayed because he wasn’t given the opportunity to go.

While Dr. Hocker certainly had the right to seek what he perceived as greener pastures — as do we all — his commitment to captain this ship through budget shortfall storms and anti-public education tempests in Boise was deservedly questioned.

Voters did not let the superintendent’s hesitation sink the ship.

Going back further, the November 2021 school board election that saw Lesli Bjerke and Allie Anderton edge an incumbent and a respected CDA school psychologist heralded, to some, an era of ultra-conservative influence for Coeur d’Alene School District.

Here’s what a Press editorial published Nov. 17, 2021, said:

"Victorious candidates Allie Anderton and Lesli Bjerke both opposed District 271’s essential two-year levy request earlier this year."

However:

" …Sometimes when outsiders step into public service and see firsthand how money is spent — a powerful transition from theory to practical application — their perspectives change. And maybe Anderton and Bjerke will bring some fresh ideas to the table.

"It would also be unfair to assume that either of these citizens will automatically be beholden to their political support groups rather than the 10,000 students, employees and residents within District 271. Let’s give them a chance to learn and see where they lead after being seated on the board in January."

This fall, Bjerke and Anderton led well. They were two-fifths of the unanimously united school board that urged passage of the levy request. They and the rest of the board deserve credit for helping carry this essential funding mechanism across the threshold. 

Back in 2021, our community — and the rest of the nation — were struggling with the COVID epidemic and other society dividers both real and imagined. While COVID has subsided, it would be difficult to argue that divisions are any less potent today than they were three years ago.

And yet, voters’ concern for local educators, families and children rose above the fray last week. Let it serve as a blueprint for rallying around important issues that most of us can agree upon.