One cent sales tax increase proposed to fund schools

by Nancy C. Butler

Idaho Education Association is promoting an initiative that would add one cent to the sales tax which would be specifically for school funding, Bill Sellers of the Clearwater Education Association to Joint School District #171 trustees Monday.

He said the initiative will be written in such a way that current state funding cannot be cut and the revenue from the one cent will have to go to education. Local representatives will be seeking signatures for a petition drive. Sellers asked that the trustees okay having petitions available at district sporting events, have staff members gather signatures and that Business Manager Trina Snyder who is a notary be able to go up the hill to notarize petitions.

Sellers said that if the initiative passed, the district could gain $1.1 million in addition to the current funding. While legislators could chose not to increase school funding, it would take several years for that to catch up the $1.1 million. The intent of the initiative is that 90 percent of the revenue would go into salaries, supplies and other costs of classroom instruction. Ten percent would go to building maintenance and operation.

Superintendent Al Arnzen advised the board to use caution in approving the request, but also reminded them that state funding has been in a downward slide for five years. Last year, the sales tax went from six cents back to five cents. If the legislature had just kept it at six cents, it would have been easier, he said. The district needs to find funding somehow or there will be cuts to programs or high costs for property taxpayers.

Though the Chairman Don Ebert expressed some reluctance for the district to get involved in political issues, he said he would support whatever the rest of the board decided. The request from Sellers was approved.

Inquiries have come in from 16-17 people interested in applying for the superintendent's position, but only 2-3 had come back in as of Monday night. The application period closes next week. Then the committee will review the applications and determine who the finalists are.

The Idaho Division of Professional-Technical Education did evaluations of both Timberline and Orofino high schools. They both passed the evaluations with some minor problems they are working on, such as community advisory committees and school clubs.

A bid of $142,000 for Freightliner buses from Western Mountain was accepted. Harlow was the other bidder. While that figure sounds like a lot of money for a district with funding problems and is the most they have ever paid for buses, Transportation Supervisor Lon Blades explained that money for the buses is earmarked and cannot be used for anything else.

Atkinson Distributing submitted the only bid for fuel and it was approved. They have been the vendor for the district for the last few years. The actual price changes weekly with the changes in gas prices. Blades said the district pays about seven cents above what Atkinson pays.

Several overnight trips were approved for school groups. Cheerleading teams from THS and OHS will travel to Post Falls for one of the three competitions they participate in each year. The district will just pay the costs for busing. Another group is going to Camp Lutheran for leadership training. All the costs are paid by a grant.

Arnzen said the process is proceeding for the district to sell a portion of property in Weippe to Clearwater County for an emergency services building they are planning.

Costs of keeping Weippe Middle School open for physical education classes and the community groups that use it are still being explored. Arnzen said it looks like the ICAN group could continue using the shop area and have a meter and pole install and pay for their electricity separately. The fate of the rest of the building is still being studied.

Snyder said the district will receive at least one more year of Craig Wyden funds. It is uncertain after that.