COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — Voter will decide whether or not to approve a replacement levy for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools this November.
The levy currently provides $25 million a year in funds for the school district and is set to expire in June 2025.
CDA Public Schools said they hope the replacement will pass because the funding is essential to CDA students’ success.
“We see people coming from outside of our district wanting to be students in Coeur d’Alene Public Schools, because of the variety that we offer. Our levy allows us to do that,” said Dr. Mike Nelson, Deputy Superintendent.
The replacement levy will fund 38.6% of teacher and support staff jobs, 24.4% of student classes and 8.2% of student athletics and extracurriculars.
“Through the levy, over the past several years, we’ve been able to have more than the state allows us, say, in terms of numbers of teachers, we pay teachers better than the salary schedule of our state of Idaho,” said Dr. Nelson.
If the levy fails, over 100 teachers would lose their jobs, extracurriculars and sports would be cut and there could be no nursing staff at schools.
“We’ve built, over the last 38 years that our levy has been here, a very comprehensive way of supporting students from kindergarten through college, so that, when they are graduating, they are ready for the world that’s ahead of them,” said Dr. Nelson.
Even though the funding isn’t set to expire until June, the levy is on the ballot this November because two previous Idaho election dates were cut.
Dr. Nelson said being on a more crowded ballot could present a challenge.
“But at the same time, we can still tell our story to the best of our ability, and our students and our staff recognize the quality that we have here,” he said.
The district said the Board of Trustees decided to keep the levy amount the same after analyzing the funding.
To see how the levy would impact your taxes, check out the CDA Public Schools tax calculator HERE.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.