Cvitanich: Levy addresses basic needs in district
SANDPOINT - A $14.1 million Lake Pend Oreille School District plant facility set for May 20 aims to fix decades of building disrepair and save taxpayers money by planning for the future.
Money generated from the two-year levy is not meant to be a luxurious update of Sagle and Kootenai schools or any of the district's other buildings, but is designed to address basic needs, said Lake Pend Oreille School District Supt. Dick Cvitanich. He spoke Thursday at the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce meeting held at Cedar Hills Church.
“We're not asking for Gucci slacks,” he said. “We're asking for a good serviceable set of clothes that will last,” he said. Cvitanich compared the district's needs with his own very modest childhood. He said he grew up in a family of six children and wore his share of hand-me down jeans, pointing out that like the district's needs, his family's clothing needed to be durable.
If approved, levy funds would be used ease overcrowding at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary by transferring student there once 11 classrooms are added to Kootenai Elementary School.
It also would be used to remove asbestos from Sandpoint Middle School, purchase school buses and replace outdated kitchen equipment, he said.
The district wants to build trust with area taxpayers with the levy and perhaps go for a bond, Cvitanich said.
“Something needs to happen with the middle school,” he said, adding that the structure, built in 1953, is two years younger than himself.
In fact, the most costly health and safety repairs the district would address if the levy is approved are at SMS, he said. That building alone needs $462,000 for asbestos removal, upgrade of its fire alarm system and replacement of floor tile in its classrooms.
Why LPOSD's schools need help
Cvitanich said people who attend events at schools in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene repeatedly ask him why LPOSD schools do not look like those other schools.
First of all, Idaho's school districts receive funding from the Legislature for instruction only. Those funds cannot be used for construction of new buildings or revamping facilities. That money has to come from taxpayers within individual school districts.
On average during the past 10 years for every $100,000 of property value, $159 was spent statewide on education, while Post Falls spent $190, Lakeland $181, Coeur d'Alene spent $151 and Bonners Ferry spent $97.
LPOSD spent nothing on buildings during that same time frame.
“There's your answer right there,” Cvitanich said.
The levy would cover health, safety and deferred maintenance at all schools: $2,601,515; district wide improvements, $2,498,485; and construction, $6,800,000. (See sidebar for how the funds would be spent).
Cvitanich said the levy is part of a 20-year plan to address the district's needs.
Plans for Kootenai Elementary and Sagle are designed to address future growth related to development plans and current projects within both areas, he said. It is the trustees' goal to plan in advance and save money in the future.
The Seven Sisters housing development in Kootenai along with the proposed Providence development could boost the area's student population, Cvitanich said.
Considerable growth also is anticipated in Sagle and could be helped along by the Legislature's recent approval funding for the Garwood to Sagle highway widening project and Avista's announcement that it soon will begin work on its long-awaited plans to add natural gas lines in that area. However, sewer and water needs still remain a question in that area.
By adding onto Kootenai School, overcrowding would ease at Farmin Stidwell, Cvitanich said. Farmin Stidwell currently has 637 students - about 100 too many, he said.