Nov. 6 – School taxes in North Idaho had mixed results in Tuesday’s election.
Coeur d’Alene Public Schools’ $25 million replacement levy passed with 61% in favor.
The Kootenai Joint School District’s $1.3 million levy also passed with 54.5% of the vote.
The Lakeland Joint School District’s $9.5 million levy narrowly failed with 49.4%.
Notably, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee has chosen not to take a position on school taxes in this election. A political action committee, Citizens for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools, campaigned in support of the district levy.
In the north county, the West Bonner School District’s one-year $1.13 million levy failed by 47.5%. The proposal was a significant cut to a $4.7 million levy that failed several times and led to a budget crisis in the rural district. In response, the school board closed Priest River Junior High School this year.
In Boundary County, voters rejected both a $2.4 million levy and a $10.5 million bond, each with about 46% of the vote.
Meanwhile, voters approved three fire district levies.
The Northern Lakes Fire Protection District levy has increased by almost 74%.
Timberlake Fire Protection District’s levy was increased by 68.5%.
The Spirit Lake Fire Protection District levy has increased 60%.
James Hanlon’s reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished for free by other organizations under a Creative Commons license. For more information about this, please contact the editor-in-chief of our newspaper.
