Legislators pay visit to LPOSD

PONDERAY — Idaho Sen. Shawn Keough and Rep. Sage Dixon paid a visit to the Lake Pend Oreille School District Tuesday evening to get an update on district operations, as well as to answer and ask questions of district officials and board members.

The district's cheif financial and operations officer, Lisa Hals, updated Keough and Dixon on the district's current financial profile and enrollment, followed by a facilities update by Superintendent Shawn Woodward.

The high point of enrollment in the district falls to Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School, where enrollment rose from 89 students last year to 118 this year, prompting Dixon to ask what caused the jump. Woodward said it is largely due to the staff and the new "classroom's without walls" program where they implemented track learning, or "learning by doing," 25 days a year.

The majority of the facilities update revolved around the recent LPOSD plant facilities levy. Woodward said the $55 million levy would have addressed needs at two elementary schools, Sandpoint Middle School, Sandpoint High School, Clark Fork Junior/Senior High School and more. With only about 35 percent yes votes for the levy, Woodward said there was a "tremendous amount of disappointment" among those who worked on planning the levy over the previous year.

"Now we have to make different decisions if we want a different set of results," Woodward said.

A survey will be available soon for public feedback, Woodward told Keough and Dixon, and board members will be taking applications in the future to form a new facilities planning committee.

Woodward also described the growth of the new Homeschool Academy, which started with 16 students and has nearly doubled in six weeks to 30 students. The success of the school is largely due to the teacher, Melinda Rossman, who Woodward said is constantly asking the parents, "How can I best support you in meeting the educational goals you have for your child?"

Dixon was suprised one teacher is able to meet all the needs of the students, such as academic support on Tuesdays, experiential learning on Wednesdays, art on Thursdays, Spanish on Fridays and other skills she teaches the students throughout the week. She also adds and adjusts to the students' needs as the program grows. One of the parents, a paraprofessional, was hired recently to help Rossman out on Wednesdays.

One of the questions that often comes up about the Homeschool Academy, Woodward said, is whether the students have to take the state tests. The answer, he said, is yes. While the Homeschool Academy is different than other schools, it must still adhere to state standards.

Dixon asked for Woodward's thoughts on the Idaho Reading Indicator assessment because it had come up in a meeting of the Public School Funding Formula Committee, an interim legislative committee of which he is a member. Dixon heard the test has "morphed" from what it was and asked if Woodward is happy with it. Woodward said he would like to see it opened back up for input because it is "not the only game in town" and other assessments might garner better results. The district recieved about $119,000 from the IRI fund this year.

Dixon updated district officials on the Funding Formula Committee and what the current educational focus is in the Legislature. He said the facilities issue, which school districts do not receive funding from the state, is a discussion that has come up in the committee recently, he said.  

"It's specifically rural schools and the disadvantage there with older buildings and the cost of keeping them up," Dixon said.  

He asked if LPOSD is considered a rural school district, which Hals said "by and large" it is. Dixon said some options, such as block grants, have been discussed which would give districts money to use in any way the board sees fit without limiting where the money can go based upon the needs of the district.

"I'm still learning, trying to get all this information, and everytime I think I'm starting to get it figured out, the bottom drops out and there is more I need to learn about (the funding)," Dixon said.

Dixon said another area he believes will be addressed this session is Career-Technical Education because employers demand the skills learned through CTE.

One question posed to Keough surrounded the financial position of the state from the legislators vantage point.

"We ended the year in a good position," Keough said. "We anticipated ending the year with $50 million and we actually ended up with more."

Keough said the fiscal year ended June 30 and the state was ahead of projections. As a result, she said, a little less than $11 million will go into the budget stabilization fund and an equal amount will go to highway projects. She said from what she hears from the budget committee, the economy is doing "well" in many areas of the state, although some rural areas are not doing so well. Much of the growth is happening in Kootenai County, and other areas to the south, such as the Treasure Valley, Pocatello and Idaho Falls area, she said, and that growth is generating tax dollars for the state.

She said the majority of legislators, from what she has heard, are supportive of growth and funding for K-12 education, recognizing that all school districts are not the same — they have different needs in different places.

"Given the fact that, overall, Idaho's economy is slowly improving and revenues are ahead of forecast, will that open up a discussion for tax cuts that last session were just kind of put on the burner very quickly?" Hals asked.

"Yes," Keough said.

"I would hope so," Dixon said.

When asked to elaborate, Keough said the senate "seems to have been pretty firm" in adequate K-12 funding before tax cuts.

"We differ in what the definition of adequate is, but that has been the prevailing attitude in the senate is that we have a responsibility, morally and constitutionally, to educate our kids, and we need to make sure we are doing that first," Keough said.