Pro-levy community members turn out for Lakeland town hall

ATHOL — Those who attended the Lakeland Joint School District's levy town hall Wednesday evening at Athol Elementary School were overwhelmingly in support of the district's upcoming levy election.

Lakeland is asking constituents to cast their votes on a proposed $7.5 million-per-year, two-year replacement supplemental levy that will be on the ballot May 20. This is $2 million less than the previously proposed levy, which failed by a slim margin at the polls in November. Lakeland's current $9.5 million-per-year levy expires in June. 

Patricia Dugan-Adams of Bayview said she fully supports the levy.

"It’s very important to me with my son having special needs," Dugan-Adams said.

Her 10-year-old son, who attends Athol Elementary, uses an augmentative and alternative communication device to interact with others as his verbal skill are limited.

“The special education program here is incredible. The kids all know him," Dugan-Adams said. 

What drew Dugan-Adams to the school district was the small class sizes. Her son previously attended a school district with huge class sizes, she said, which was not the right environment for him.

"I wanted him to go someplace where he would meet all of his friends in elementary school, go to middle school and high school with them, and they’ve been wonderful and so supportive," she said. "It is a community here.”

She said she has heard other community members say they shouldn't have to pay for students' education.

"They’re not interested in using their own personal property taxes, but you got to do something in the interim," she said. "In the ideal world it would be something that the state (fully) funded.”

The state funds about three quarters of the district's $40 million general fund budget while the levy funds the rest, most of which pays the salaries and benefits of staff. Levy funds also pay for sports, school safety, co-curriculars, transportation and the district's participation in Kootenai Technical Education Campus, where students receive hands-on training in trades such as welding and automotive technology.

Heidi Meckle of Athol has a son in high school and a daughter in fifth grade. She said her children previously attended Lakeland schools, left to try out a charter school, but ultimately decided to come back to Lakeland.

“We’ve been so impressed with the high school and the way they keep kids accountable," she said. "They teach them life lessons and don’t let things slide and really keep after them with their grades. And sports is so huge, especially for young boys.”

Timberlake High School senior Marissa Needs spoke at the meeting. She plays basketball and softball but thinks of how another levy failure and loss of funding would affect her little brother, a sophomore who is in band and looking forward to going to KTEC.

"He's not interested in sports. He’s really interested in band and pep band,” she said. “If there’s no more sports to play in, he wouldn’t get to do pep band and there’s a chance there wouldn’t be a pep band for him, so what’s he going to do? It’s not just sports, you have to think about the band kids.”

Meckle said she has spoken to friends and neighbors who are opposed to the levy. 

“It’s a little struggle, obviously," she said. "I feel you need to think about the community, not just yourself, but I understand there’s financial situations too."  

In Lakeland, levy rates have gone from $3.44 per $1,000 taxable assessed value in 2018 to an estimated $.82 per $1,000 this year. This doesn't factor in state property tax relief, which is expected to lower the rate to $.56 per $1,000.

Meckle said finances are the biggest aspect people are taking issue with regarding the levy.

“I’ve talked to a few homeschool parents that aren’t maybe in support of public education, but what it comes down to is not everybody can homeschool, not everybody can afford to not work,” she said. “A lot of people aren’t understanding that Timberlake is part of the Lakeland District, that this area is going to be affected and also they’re not understanding the taxes and the levy and how much they’re actually going to have to pay.

“We just really need to think about our community,” she continued. “It affects all of us and our futures. The kids are our future, whether they’re homeschooling or playing sports at the school. They’re our future.”

More Lakeland levy town hall meetings are coming up from 5:30 to 7 p.m. April 23 at Betty Kiefer Elementary School, 13898 N. Schooner St., Rathdrum, and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 30 at Spirit Lake Elementary School, 32605 N. Fifth Ave., Spirit Lake.