Elections for school bonds in March? Idaho Republicans want to eliminate the option
The Idaho House on Friday passed a bill eliminating half the months that school districts can run bond and levy elections, a move supporters said would improve voter turnout.
But lawmakers and school leaders who oppose the proposal said it would hinder a necessary tool to fund school facilities and operational costs, which many districts are funding by taking on debt and relying on local property taxpayers.
School districts can hold elections asking voters to approve bonds and levies four times per year, in March, May, August and November. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Alfieri, R-Coeur d’Alene, would eliminate the March and August elections.
Those elections draw lower voter turnout than elections held in the other months, Alfieri said. A smaller percentage of voters “deciding what’s going to happen in those elections” is “unfair to the rest of the public,” he said.
“If you want to change and truly engage the public, we need to eliminate these interim elections,” Alfieri said.
Idaho K-12 public schools are funded by the state, but they also rely on supplemental federal and local funding. When state funding falls short, school districts ask local taxpayers to approve bonds, taking on debt to pay for construction needs, and property tax levies to fund operation costs, covering everything from staff to programs.
School districts across the state need about $850 million to repair facilities, according to a 2022 study by the Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations. Meanwhile, most school districts in Idaho are relying on levies to fully fund operation costs. Last year, levies totaled $218 million, Idaho EdNews reported.
Rep. Lori McCann, R-Lewiston, said bonds and levies should be difficult to pass, but the state hasn’t met its constitutional obligation to fund public schools.
“There are some rural districts really close to mine that haven’t been able to pass a levy for years,” McCann said. “This body is charged to do what these schools are having to ask to do. … In time, I think we might be able to lessen the dates, but I don’t feel that we’re there yet.”
The House voted 43-26 to pass the legislation, which now heads to the Senate.
March elections key to school district funding
Idaho school leaders on Wednesday told lawmakers that Alfieri’s bill would impair their ability to fund their needs, particularly by eliminating March bond and levy elections, which are the most successful and are crucial for timing school budgets.
Operational expenses “far exceed” what the Legislature appropriates, Jeff Dillon, superintendent of the Wilder School District, told lawmakers. Wilder supplements the state’s school funding with levies. Costs of providing mandated programs, such as for special education and career technical education, are rising, he said.
“Legislators distribute money to districts in buckets, with strings attached, leaving districts very little flexibility to move funds around to meet the various needs of the district,” he said. “These items have forced us to seek help from our local patrons.”
But school funding can be an afterthought during November elections, while the other months offer a “very visible” and “transparent” opportunity to communicate school needs, Dillon said.
“We could be the only item on the ballot, so we have the ability to communicate, specifically, the needs that we have,” he said.
School tax levies require approval from the majority of voters in a district, but bonds require a supermajority, at least two-thirds. Voters are significantly more favorable to bonds in March than the other three months.
Over the last decade, there have been 126 bond elections by Idaho school districts, according to data from the Idaho School Boards Association. Elections held in March had a 55% approval rate, compared with 36% in May, 33% in August and 24% in November, the data shows.
March elections are “extremely important” for schools that rely on levies, Quinn Perry, policy and government affairs director for the Idaho School Boards Association, told the committee Wednesday. After the Legislature adjourns in the spring and sets budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, school districts have a short window to complete contract negotiations with teachers and meet budgeting deadlines in May, Perry said.
“For a school district, like in Coeur d’Alene, where 20% of your budget is the supplemental levy, you could be having to cut programs, and teachers, and staff before you’re even able to go out for another election,” Perry said.
School leaders fight with budget-setting lawmakers for the “bare minimum tools” needed to fund schools, Perry said. The proposal to eliminate key election opportunities came without a conversation about an alternative to school funding, she said.
“We can work together to find solutions,” Perry said. “This just cuts those tools out for school districts to be able to fund and operate our schools.”
The Idaho Farm Bureau, on the other hand, backs Alfieri’s bill.
Russ Hendricks, vice president of governmental affairs for the trade group, said farmers and ranchers pay taxes for school bonds and levies on agricultural land in addition to their residential properties.
“They’re very concerned about the added expense that they pay, even though they only have one set of kids,” Hendricks said Wednesday. “Our hope is that we can get to a point where there’s no longer a need for override levies or bonds.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2023 at 2:39 PM.
