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My wife and I have lived in Bonner County for 30 years. Over the last two decades we have watched the recurring divide in our communities when the school district rolls out its latest supplemental levy for voter approval.

Two of the “must have ingredients” of the controversial levy are the funding of all extracurricular activities and the salaries of a third of the district staff. Total district staff is listed as 900.

Just wondering: Between 2013, when the levy was “only” $15 million and now that it’s over $25 million, has the enrollment and therefore the cost of extracurricular activities gone up that much to justify a $10 million increase? Have the number of employees gone up that much? Or the salaries or both?

The Idaho Department of Education website has some answers to these questions.

There hasn’t been a surge in student numbers, in fact, quite the opposite. The considerable enrollment decline has only recently improved, mostly due to the fact that the district has actively counted homeschoolers who attend part-time, but boost enrollment numbers. With this information, extracurricular activities costs should have dropped or at least remained flat.

There is also no indication that the district has 900 employees, not on the Idaho Department of Education website nor on the school district’s payroll reports. The numbers reported by the Idaho Department of Education have hovered between the mid-to-upper 500s, the payroll reports around 600.

Facts are stubborn things and voters cannot be blamed for saying no when school officials are trying to manipulate them.

STEVE BRADSHAW

Cocolalla