West Bonner reviewing district's options

PRIEST RIVER — West Bonner County officials are considering possible options in the wake of voters rejecting the school district's $4.68 million levy May 21.

In the vote, held during the primary election,  2,430, or 54.24%, voted against the measure with 2,050, or 45.76% voting for it.

The levy would have paid for safety, security, and maintenance, a school resource officer, new buses, child nutrition and curriculum costs, technology, salary, benefits, services and extracurricular and co-curricular costs.

Superintendent Joe Kren has been meeting with WBCSD administrators to develop a list of options for the board to consider. The board will likely review those options this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

The levy's failure leaves the district short on its budget by the amount of the levy — $4.68 million. 

"It is important to remember any fund balance is now gone as all payroll and general fund expenditures were covered by the ESSER funds and fund balance," Kren said.

Items such as athletics were dependent on the levy's passage, said the superintendent.

"So before anyone says, well the levy did not pass last year but they were still able to pay for sports, last year we were able to save athletics because again we had ESSER money," Kren said. "Now it is all gone."

Like athletics, planned facility repairs or improvements were among items covered by the levy and could potentially be deferred, Kren said. Also funded by the levy were a school resource officer position, several new buses and textbooks.

In voting to put the supplemental levy before voters, board members who supported the move said the amount was reasonable, meeting critical facility needs, addressing safety issues, and covering curriculum and staffing costs. They opted to keep the levy to one year, saying it would give the district time to complete its audits as well as hire a business manager and a new superintendent.

"The other piece critical is we still need to stay competitive,” Hall said. “If we don’t, open enrollment will kill us because if we don't at least offer the basics and take the next year to keep pushing through and getting our house in order, I think, is critical.”

However, critics of the levy, including new board trustee Kathy Nash, said the district did not have reliable numbers to form the foundation of a levy proposal — and needed to wait until all audits are completed.

“The educational value isn’t meeting the standard for which people are going to support a levy for more dollars,” she said at a mid-March meeting at which the levy proposal was passed in a 4-1 vote.

Trustee Paul Turco, who was appointed to his seat after the recall of former trustees Keith Rutledge and Susan Brown, disputed Nash’s contention the numbers were inaccurate. As trustees, Turco said the board has a responsibility to taxpayers and constituents to tell them what it costs to run the district.

With items such as sports and the SRO position placed on the levy, it is unclear how or if the district will address funding of the programs.

That question is among the items being discussed by administrators and will be up to the board on how to handle them, Kren said.

"I will not sit here and say, these items and programs are gone, because that is not my responsibility," Kren said. "That will be up to the board."