School districts across Idaho are asking voters for more money Tuesday through levies. Many districts that are still recovering from years of state budget cuts say they need more help from local residents. The Payette school district, for example, may have to close a small elementary school and send its students to other district schools.
Perhaps most striking is the Nampa School District. Nampa has been in crisis mode since last summer when it discovered accounting errors had created a $4.3 million deficit. The district is asking taxpayers to make up that amount in a levy.
Fourth grade teacher and Nampa Education Association vice president Carmi Scheller says the cuts made this year have been so difficult she can't imagine the levy vote failing.
“That’s almost a cliff I can’t even consider looking over the edge of,” she says. “Just that knowing that it continues and that it continues at the same level is just overwhelming to even consider.”
Scheller says the message levy supporters have emphasized is that if it passes taxes won’t go up.
“Which is difficult to explain and to show. We’ve tried to really make sure people know why it works that way,” she says. “And that’s the part people keep saying now explain that again I’m not quite clear on it. But it is what it is, you know. It doesn’t increase taxes.”
Even though the Nampa School District is asking voters for the full $4.3 million of the deficit, bond refinancing means the total tax bill for residents will stay the same.
Other districts with levies on the ballot include Middleton, Cascade, The Meadows Valley district, Cassia County, Gooding and Twin Falls. Here’s an overview of some of the other levy votes happening in Idaho Tuesday from Idaho Education News.
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