Parents: Keep Northside School open

SANDPOINT — Northside Elementary School students’ parents told Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Dick Cvitanich on Thursday they don’t want the school closed.

“Just because we’re old doesn’t mean we don’t work just fine,” wrote one person on an index card.

Facilitators used the index cards so audience members could submit comments or questions to Cvitanich.

It is projected LPOSD could save $150,000 to $160,000 a year if trustees vote to shutter the school and transfer Northside students to Kootenai Elementary, he told the audience packed into the school’s gym.

“That (savings) might buy three our four junior (pay-scale) teachers,” Cvitanich said.

The Lake Pend Oreille School Board has not made any decisions and trustees are exploring several options to save money, he said.

It is a conversation that would not be necessary if the U.S. economy were not in the worst recession since the Great Depression, he said.

“If we have to close schools, we have to take a step back,” Cvitanich said. “My job is to serve the needs of all the students in the district.

Several comments accused the superintendent and trustees of being untruthful about the real reason behind the voter-approved 2008 plant facilities levy that added classrooms at Sagle and Kootenai schools, suggesting the goal all along has been to close the school.

One person also asked why no plant facilities money was spent at Northside.

Construction at Kootenai Elementary was based upon population numbers in the Kootenai area that at the time, which were predicted to increase substantially. There also was the need to finish a school that lacked a kitchen, library or space to serve students with special needs, Cvitanich said.

The expansion also was designed to reduce overcrowding at Farmin-Stidwell, which currently has 610 students, to a more manageable 500 students.

Cvitanich took umbrage about the statement regarding Northside not receiving plant facilities funding. The district has spent $270,000 in plant facilities funds at Northside, including replacement of its boiler, he said.

 Until now, the district has been able to withstand the current economic situation and is the only district in the region to not declare a financial emergency, Cvitanich said.

“We have finally hit the wall with this economic situation.”

If trustees vote to approve closing Northside, five people in the school’s zone could petition for hold a district-wide election on the matter, Cvitanich said.

The election would have to be held within 14 days of the board verifying the petition.

The district has struggled with declining enrollment for the past four years, losing 500 students during that time, including a substantial enrollment drop at Sandpoint High School, attributed partially to a larger-than-normal 2008 graduation class.

LPOSD has weathered these financial challenges by having an astute business manager in Lisa Halls, but the results of those decisions are visible in the increased enrollment in elementary classrooms as teaching positions have been left vacant either through retirement or having to let teachers go.

Until the Idaho Legislature votes on the education budget in March, the district has no idea what cuts it will make or the extent, Cvitanich said.

State Superintendent of Education Tom Luna’s budget includes a proposal to reduce $5 million in protected status money from the state budget. That money is used to keep districts with an unexpected decline in enrollment from falling off the cliff financially.

That potentially could mean a loss of $825,000 to Lake Pend Oreille School District.

Cvitanich urged audience members to contact their legislators and Luna’s office regarding their concerns.

The district is considering several options aside from closing Northside to save money, including a centralized kindergarten that is not getting any love from anyone, Cvitanich said, to redrawing the district’s attendance boundaries, which the district announced it would do with passage of the 2008 plant facilities levy.

Several trustees also have asked that a four-day school week be part of a school board workshop discussion on Wednesday.

Specific details related to redrawing district boundaries also will be discussed at the workshop.

He added that a district-wide committee comprised of certified (teachers) and non-certified staff  (janitors, for example), has come up with $2.5 million in proposed budget, if needed.

Cvitanich would not discuss the numbers since the school board has yet to see them, but also because staff need to focus on educating children and not on worrying whether or not they will have a job.

“It’s tough to serve two purposes — budget and education needs,” he said.

Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, said Friday that he expects the Legislature will cut seven to 10 percent from this fiscal year’s budget, which goes through June.

Eskridge spoke via cellphone, relaying comments made by Sen. Shawn Keough while she piloted her vehicle from Boise following the end of this week’s legislative session.

It is expected that the Legislature will hold to that same decrease for the 2010-2011 budget year, he said.

“I think we are going to go with that,” he said.

The State Land Board also has agreed to Luna’s request to use money from its reserves for education — although at $22 million it is less than half of what he sought.

That money probably will be kept out of the education budget mix though and likely will be kept in reserves for education, Eskridge said.

Legislators received state budget revenue numbers Friday, which projected $2.28 billion for this budget year and $2.29 billion for the following year, Eskridge said.

LPOSD has not made a decision about how it will deal with this budget crisis, but said district officials have been wise to plan ahead.

“I complement them,” Eskridge said. “It’s really responsible.”

The Idaho Legislature will education budget discussion on March 1.