Eighteen out of the 20 school districts in Idaho that depend the most on levies for their funding are in the panhandle.
That means district budgets are often at the whims of voters in the area, many of whom have seemed hesitant to support these ballot measures in recent elections.
SPR Morning Edition host Owen Henderson sat down with a Idaho Ed News reporter Emma Epperly who’s been following the issue.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
OWEN HENDERSON: So, lots of schools in the Inland Northwest get at least part of their funding from levies, but you looked into what percentage of district budgets that those levies made up in North Idaho and across the state. What did you find?
EMMA EPPERLY: So, the vast majority of districts with the highest levy dependence are in North Idaho, with the top five last year being Moscow at just over 39%, then Lewiston at 38%, Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint at 27%, West Bonner County in Priest River at 26%, and Mullen, which is west of Wallace in the Silver Valley, also around 26%.
The districts with the highest percentage of reliance are all in North Idaho, and then really, when you get down to the Treasure Valley, those are way lower down on the list as far as percentage goes.
OH: So, why are so many North Idaho schools so much more dependent on levies? 39 percent, that's a lot of a budget.
EE: Yeah. So, the main reason is the panhandle's proximity to Washington. Idaho has one of the lowest levels of per-pupil spending in the country, while Washington is in the middle of the pack, which basically means teachers in Washington make a lot more money.
A good example is the starting teacher salary in Moscow is $42,000 compared to $55,000 in Pullman. That's just nine miles down the road.
The difference also grows with the pay scale. So, in Moscow, teacher pay tops out at around $83,000 compared to more than $104,000 in Pullman.
There's some other factors, like there's a higher cost of living in a lot of places in the panhandle, which makes it difficult to keep mid-career teachers. They can't afford to buy a house, those kinds of issues.
There's also increased travel, both day-to-day, because there are a lot of geographically large districts in the rural areas of Idaho. And also, for sporting events, many of the state tournaments, state conferences end up being located in the Boise area, which is just a really long drive for districts up north.
OH: And so, they're very reliant on these levies, and in recent elections, there's been a streak of levy failures in North Idaho districts. We talked about West Bonner County. Boundary County recently had a levy fail. Why is that?
EE: Well, districts like West Bonner and Boundary have had trouble passing a levy before, but there are some changing demographics in the area that are contributing to this kind of increased rate of levy failure.
It's kind of notable that Coeur d'Alene, which is a pretty large district, had a levy fail back in 2023, and then Lakeland, which is in Rathdrum, and also kind of a mid-sized district, had a levy failure both in 2023 and this past November.
There are a lot of people moving to Idaho because it's a red state, and district leaders say that those transplants don't know how school funding works in Idaho.
The district officials like to refer to their levies not as “supplemental” but as “essential” because the state only funds 75% of their needs.
Boundary County Superintendent Jan Bayer said that her area specifically has drawn people who kind of lean anti-government and just don't want to pay taxes in general.
OH: You mentioned the Boundary County Superintendent. What are she and other district officials saying about the state of that district's budget? How are they thinking about attempting to mitigate the effects of a levy failure?
EE: What Bayer said is that she can't really remember a levy ever passing in November, so the failure of both their levy and bond that they ran last month wasn't a surprise, but there are fewer election dates currently in Idaho than there have been in the past for schools to put a measure on the ballot.
So their only other option is May, and district budgets are due just a few weeks later, so it's a big time crunch for them.
So they have to do a planning process where they do two budgets, and that process often starts with what services have to stay.
Trustee Teresa Ray told me that includes English, math, science, social studies, and special education. She says that once they do those five things and then provide transportation and pay the bills, they're out of money.
OH: Now let's talk about consequences of a levy failure. Specifically, we're going to focus in on Boundary County. What would that actually mean for students and staff if that May levy fails again?
EE: So those cuts are pretty extensive. That's all extracurriculars, electives, including career and technical programs, which has been a big focus in Idaho recently, along with staff.
So those layoffs — these are approximate numbers from the superintendent — but about one and a half administrator positions, at least 10 teachers, and between 10 to 13 classified staff. So that's people like paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, those types of positions.
And they also won't be able to update curriculum and technology or purchase a sorely needed new school bus.
OH: That all sounds pretty dire for this particular school district, and I imagine lots of others around the state. What can be done about this? Are there any attempts happening to make districts less reliant on levies?
EE: Yeah, so Bayer, the superintendent up in Boundary County, has really pushed to state leaders that they need to rework the special education funding formula.
The special education just takes up a big portion of her budget, and they don't get enough funding from the state and federal government to cover those services, which are more expensive in her area than in other parts of the state because there just aren't very many occupational therapists, speech therapists, those types of professionals in her area. So it costs more.
District leaders in Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene are pushing for an expansion of levy lengths. So currently, Idaho districts can run a levy for one year, two years, or indefinitely — and there's some extra requirements for that indefinite levy.
But these district leaders really want to have a up to six-year option, which is going to reduce levy fatigue in voters and allow more long-term budgeting, which could save them money. But it's not as long as forever, so it really still keeps that local control is their pitch.
For now, though, voters are tired of levy asks, despite how essential the funds are in North Idaho.
Janet Avery, the Potlatch superintendent, said she just doesn't know whether the Idaho legislature understands that it can cost more to educate students in North Idaho.
