School district levy passes

SANDPOINT — The Lake Pend Oreille School District levy has passed with 59.5 percent of the vote.

The $10.95 million supplemental levy received 3,965 yes votes to 2,699 no votes.

Voters at Sandpoint High School approved the levy by a vote of 587 to 193. Voters at Clark Fork High School approved the levy 171 yes to 122 no; at Hope, it passed 138 yes to 115 no votes. It also passed at Farmin Stidwell, 648-321 and at Washington Elementary, 564 to 217. At Kootenai Elementary, which also included absentee ballots, the measure passed 874 to 565

The measure failed at Northside, 345 no votes to 262 yes votes; at Sagle 552 no votes to 496 yes votes and at Southside 269 to 225 votes.

The levy required a simple majority for approval — 50 percent plus one vote. The levy is divided in two parts, with $4.6 million to be collected in year one and $6,350,000 in year two.

Voters would pay about the same for the first year of the supplemental levy as this year and about 44 percent less the second year because a two-year plant facilities levy would be off the books.

For example, someone with property worth a net assessed value of $225,000 (this is minus the homeowner’s exemption) will pay $21.71 per month in 2009,  $21.09 in 2010 (the first year of the supplemental levy) and $11.75 in 2011.

The plant facilities levy has funded  items such as school buses to additions at Sagle and Kootenai schools. LPOSD expects to go out to bid on the school projects at the end of March.

While this year’s layoffs are the result of declining student enrollment, the district’s budget woes in the coming year (and likely the year following that) are compounded by state budget holdbacks related to a declining national economy and Idaho revenues.

The levy represents about one-fifth of the district’s budget or 21 percent of staff funding. Without voter approval, district official say LPOSD will lay-off one in five of its employees.

Even with approval, the district has announced cuts in its upper quartile program in the way of staffing and its extended day kindergarten program designed to help those children who are academically behind their peers.

The replacement levy would fund four areas: curriculum, student activities and extra curricular programs, technology and maintenance