Local group organizes for levy as May election nears

A group of local residents and parents are rallying to try and get the West Bonner County School District’s second attempt at a levy passed May 18 — a levy that accounts for a whopping 25% of the district’s budget.

Ashley Scribner, a former substitute teacher, elementary school librarian and classified staff member, said one of her children is attending the high school, with two others graduated.

She remembers being in high school in 2007, she said, when the state moved from property taxes to sales tax as a means to fund schools.

When sales tax revenue dropped with the 2008 recession, many schools were left scrambling, and almost all implemented levies to fill in the shortfall.

“Schools were fully funded until my sophomore or junior year,” Scribner said. “[The change] made it to where school, for the first time, became political.”

Although the district’s $147 per $100,000 taxable assessed value is less than many of its neighboring districts, (a rate that has not increased, but would generate more funds because of increasing home values) — many balked this year at renewing the levy in towns where residents’ median income hasn’t kept up with housing prices.

Even before 2021, levies narrowly passed in the West Bonner County School District. One failed in 2019 after the district attempted to add a permanency clause. It was passed in a second election after the clause was removed.

This year in particular, though, one of the challenges for proponents of the levy has been combating misinformation, Scribner said. Some of those assertions contend the district is “wasting money” or already has the funds it needs — but that’s not the case, she said.

“Getting proper education has been a struggle,” she said. “Rumors can spread almost faster than truth.”

Dana Douglas, a community member who raised two now-adult sons in the WBCSD system, pointed to audits the district is required to go through each year.

“All those things for maintenance they’ve used appropriately,” she said.

Douglas who’s been a vocal advocate for the levy, said she’s coached numerous youth sports and volunteered with the schools. She’s seen through firsthand experience that most teachers wear several hats in their job, she said.

“Every single teacher in every single school does more than one job, and most of them do it for free,” she said. “[Extracurriculars often] don’t get financial support.”

The schools, she said, are already working with the “bare minimum” they can.

“I went to school in Newport, and I had a couple of really great teachers and really great coaches,” she said. “Athletics in school is what had me showing up and getting good grades.”

In 2019, 15 teachers left after the levy failed the first time because of a lack of job security, although it was eventually passed. Should the levy fail again in 2021, officials have said it would equate to the salaries of roughly 20 full-time teachers and 15 certified staff.

Should the levy fail a second time, district officials have said WBCSD would likely need to close two of its schools, increase class sizes and cut course offerings to the minimum necessary to graduate. That would also mean cutting athletes and extracurriculars like music and performing art.

Those kinds of cuts don’t just impact student opportunity, Scribner said, but the community as a whole.

“We’re continuing to put adult issues on children’s shoulders,” Scribner said. “Kids having to worry about money, [and] ‘will my teachers get paid?’”

Although the debate for and against the levy has been politicized, Douglas said she doesn’t see it as one — rather, they want to make sure the schools are well-funded for the benefit of students and the community.

Organizers plan to hold demonstrations for the levy as the deadline approaches, Scribner said, including a slow caravan on Sunday, May 16 at noon, and holding signs outside the schools on May 17-18.

“You could never convince me it’s making a statement about politics, because a school levy isn’t about politics,” she said. “If you want new live industry and blood, it comes with the youth. And we’re not offering anything for that.”