Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene decline; Lakeland doesn't qualify for funding
North Idaho's three largest school districts will not seek emergency levy funding this school year.
The Post Falls School District announced Tuesday that its board of trustees unanimously decided not to impose an emergency levy for the 2025-26 school year even though the district has 83 more students than this time last year. This increase would allow the district to collect an estimated $641,258 through an emergency levy.
"However, after reviewing the budget and discussing the district’s long-term financial planning, the board agreed with Superintendent Dena Naccarato that seeking the emergency levy was 'not in the best interest of our taxpayers at this time,'" the district said in a news release.
"We recognize the growing needs of our schools, but we also understand the importance of balancing those needs with fiscal responsibility,” Naccarato said in the release. "Post Falls continues to be one of the most fiscally conservative districts in the state, and we are proud of our ability to operate efficiently while maintaining one of the lowest levy rates in Idaho.”
According to Idaho Code 33-805, school districts that experience average daily attendance growth for the same period of the school year immediately preceding are allowed to request to levy emergency funds upon all taxable property in the district without voter approval. The average daily attendance is counted the first three days of the school year. It is calculated by taking the number of days enrolled students are present and dividing by the number of days of school in the reporting period.
This year's average daily attendance for Post Falls was 5,688 students compared with last year's 5,606. The district's enrollment this year is 5,823 while 2024-25 enrollment was 5,796 students.
“We are grateful for the community’s continued support and trust,” Post Falls School Board Chair Neil Uhrig said. “This decision reflects our ongoing commitment to be thoughtful stewards of public funds.”
The Coeur d'Alene School District qualified for $209,000 in emergency levy funding but also opted not to pursue emergency funds.
"We want our community to know that the Coeur d’Alene School District is living within its means and is stretching taxpayer dollars to achieve maximum efficiency,” Coeur d’Alene Superintendent Shon Hocker said. “Choosing not to add an emergency levy aligns with our commitment to fiscal discipline and taxpayer relief.”
Attendance numbers the first week of school showed Coeur d'Alene's elementary schools at 4,055 students, middle schools at 2,066 students and high schools at 3,385 students for a total of 9,506.
Earlier projections for 2025-26 anticipated a decline of about 100 students. With this week’s counts, things are better than expected, according to Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Mike Nelson.
“We were cautiously optimistic that we would not experience a decline; instead, we are excited to have a slight enrollment increase,” Nelson said. “We’ll have a clearer picture of our funded ADA and enrollment after the first Friday in November, per state timelines.”
The Lakeland Joint School District will also not pursue an emergency levy as it did not experience a growth in average daily attendance.
"Under Idaho statute, a district must have at least one more student in its physical count than the previous year to qualify for an emergency levy," Lakeland Superintendent Rusty Taylor said. "Since our enrollment did not exceed last year’s count, we did not qualify."
As of Sept. 2, Lakeland counted 4,640 enrolled students. It had 4,663 enrolled students the same day last year.
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Hocker