LPOSD seeks $17M supplemental levy

SANDPOINT — The Lake Pend Oreille School Board approved a $17 million, two-year supplemental levy proposal Tuesday, which will go before voters on March 14.

The sample ballot measure will be introduced at the next meeting in January, but Superintendent Shawn Woodward said the $17,000,091 will likely be split up as $8.3 million for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, and $8.7 million for the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

"As we look at the future of our school district, the needs are always going to outweigh the resources coming in," Woodward said. "We think that this amount is fair to our taxpayers, and responsible and efficient and will allow us to continue moving forward in such a way that we can continue to increase student learning."

With the current $15,767,484 supplemental levy, which expires in June, the rate for taxpayers is $176 per year for each $100,000 of net taxable value on their home.

Lisa Hals, the district’s chief financial and operations officer, said at $8.3 million for the first year of the levy, the rate for taxpayers would increase to $180 per $100,000 of net taxable value. In the second year, at $8.7 million, the rate would be $184 per $100,000 of net taxable value.

In another example, Hals said for a home valued at $250,000, with the $100,000 homeowners exemption, taxpayers who are currently paying $264 per year would see a $6 increase to $270.

Supplemental levy funds cover approximately one-third of the district's overall operations, which is why each department has emphasized the importance of the levy funds through presentations over the past several weeks.

If the levy fails, Woodward said there would be a significant impact to all of the departments funded by the supplemental levy.

"Most of our budget goes toward staffing, so we would end up having to make a massive reduction in force ..." Woodward said. "We have 11 school buildings now; we would be looking at consolidating our schools to have fewer sites, because it's not economically feasible — with a budget 30-percent less, we could not keep all of our schools open as they are today. We would not have any athletics or activities for students because they are 100-percent funded through the supplemental levy."

The maximum requests by all departments came to a total of about $18 million over two years, so some departments will receive less funds than requested — curriculum and staffing in particular.

The maximum request by the technology department was $1,078,944 over two years for license fees, capital items and the new fiber Internet being installed throughout the district. In Woodward's $17 million levy proposal, the technology department would receive the full $1,078,944.

The maximum request by Andra Murray, director of Teaching and Learning, in the curriculum department was $907,000 over two years. The proposed levy would reduce that amount by $200,000 per year, for a two-year total of $507,000. The decrease will cut into the curriculum review and adoption of new instructional materials. Murray requested $300,000 per year to update materials, K-12, that have not been reviewed and upgraded since 2006. With $128,000 per year needed for consumables and professional development, the leftover $100,000 per year in the proposed amount will only cover partial review and new materials at fewer grade-levels.

The maximum request for student activities was $771,364 — not including $436,727 per year for coaching salaries, which was moved into the staffing portion of the proposed levy line items. In the proposed levy, student activities would receive $663,302 over two years. In Woodward's proposal, all of the line items were in place except for trip salaries at $64,031 per year, which was removed, and a line item was added for musical instruments at $10,000 per year.

The two-year maximum request for maintenance was $860,752. With an offset amount of $414,604 the first year and $446,147 in the second year over the next two years, the maintenance department would receive $1 less than the maximum request at $860,751.

Staffing which includes several line items, was reduced from the maximum requests by about $650,000. Full-day kindergarten, with the max request, would have been $270,000 per year, but the proposed levy includes only $20,000 per year. It includes one additional counselor, rather than the two requested, at $60,000 per year, as well as $20,000 per year for the Clark Fork Junior/Senior High learning track program, increasing an existing part-time certified nursing assistant position to full-time at $19,700 per year, as well as several other line items. General staffing is $5,315,728 the first year and $$5,307,650 the second year. The total amount for staffing in the proposed levy is $13,630,094 over two years.

The final line item on the levy proposal is a contingency fund of $260,000 over two years.

During recent meetings, district trustees have expressed the desire to be as transparent as possible throughout this process, which will include adding the line items on the ballot so voters can see exactly where their money will go if the levy passes in March.

Board vice-chair Geraldine Lewis said she would like the trustees to hold meetings with the public before the election so voters can better understand what they are voting for. Preferably, she said, the meetings would be held in non-school settings where the community can take part in a public-forum rather than a school board meeting.

"We really need clarity for the public," Lewis said. "I really want to encourage more community involvement so that a really broad range of voters feel like they have the information in-hand."

Contact information for trustees is listed on the district's website at lposd.org/board-of-trustees, and anyone with questions, comments or suggestions are encouraged to contact a board member. All department presentations regarding the levy are also located on the district's website.