Idaho needs better solutions than relying on homeowners to pay for new schools | Opinion

The Vallivue school district’s overcrowding problem shows just how much state legislators need to step in and provide a solution to the problem of how we build new schools in Idaho.

As Idaho Statesman reporter Rachel Spacek reported, the Vallivue school district can’t keep up with the rapid growth within its boundaries. This year alone, Vallivue’s student enrollment grew by 8.3%, or more than 650 students.

Vallivue has added 46 portable classrooms in five years, with the entire fifth grade at Central Canyon Elementary School in portable classrooms. The district’s Lakevue Elementary, built for 725 students, has 949. Class sizes are at 35 students in some instances, compared with the average 24 students per class for an Idaho elementary school. Vallivue is overdue for at least two new elementary schools, Spacek reported, but Vallivue voters have twice shot down bonds to pay for new buildings.

The problem is not unique to Vallivue.

The West Ada School District grows at a rate of about one elementary school per year. The Nampa school district is going to ask voters in March for a $210.2 million bond. Middleton voters have rejected funding for a new school five times in the past seven years. In Idaho Falls, a $250 million school bond that was meant for a new high school, two new elementary schools and a renovation of Skyline High School failed to pass on the November ballot, according to East Idaho News.

Vallivue officials have asked the cities of Caldwell and Nampa and Canyon County to put a moratorium on approving new developments.

But that’s not the solution.

Caldwell Mayor Jarom Wagoner is correct in his assessment that putting a halt on new construction will exacerbate an already troubling rise in housing prices.

Still, the problem for school districts remains.

An interim legislative Funding Construction of Public Schools committee has been meeting since October to come up with some ideas that hold promise.

Committee member Sen. Kevin Cook, R-Idaho Falls, broached the idea of modeling new school construction after the way the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints builds its new church buildings.

He suggested a “cookie-cutter,” bare-bones approach to school construction that would make school design more uniform, efficient, less expensive and expandable for future growth. Individual districts could opt in for more bells and whistles, such as sports or performing arts facilities.

Outgoing state Sen. Jeff Agenbroad, R-Nampa, recommended earmarking state endowment funds that school districts could tap into explicitly for new school construction.

Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, suggested using state budget surplus funds that school districts could tap to build new schools. That’s a proposal that Democrats pitched last session very briefly before Republicans quickly passed a series of tax cuts and rebates.

The committee has done some great work in a short amount of time. Members are putting together a report with the potential for specific legislation for the upcoming session.

We hope legislators will listen to the committee’s ideas and recognize the need for a solution.

Idaho simply needs to come up with a better mechanism to fund the construction of new school buildings. With a projected $1.5 billion budget surplus, there’s no excuse for the state not to fund school building construction — even partially.

This is a property tax issue. Districts all over Idaho rely on property taxpayers to fund new school buildings. Getting this burden off the property tax rolls — especially residential property owners — will help with skyrocketing property tax bills.

The Legislature must also come up with a mechanism that allows school districts to collect impact fees, just as police departments, fire departments, parks and roads are able to now.

Finally, the 2023 legislative session promises a vigorous debate on school vouchers, but legislators should not use state taxpayer dollars to pay for a private education before funding the construction of much-needed public school buildings.

Legislators should first keep in mind their constitutional duty “to establish and maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.”

One thing is made clear by the Vallivue school district example: the state isn’t fulfilling that duty.

This story was originally published December 18, 2022 at 4:00 AM.