Harder for MSD to pass a bond-levy

OK, read the article the follows. I’ll translate at the bottom of this post.

As reported inthe Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The district received a state appropriation for next year shrunken by nearly half a million dollars. Included in that general fund appropriation is money from the state lottery that, until this year, went toward capital improvement projects.

"So we can pay teachers and use it for programs, we just can't keep the building standing," said trustee Paul Weingartner. For newer districts the funding change wouldn't be so dramatic, but it could pose a problem for a district like Moscow with older school buildings, he said.

Business manager Deb Adair said the district could technically still use that funding for capital improvements, but the overall appropriation is so reduced that scenario is unlikely.

"We could if we could afford it," she said, adding that she and other officials hope the lottery dollars will be redesignated for plant facilities projects in future years.

The change in lottery funding is coupled with a new Idaho law that consolidates election days, a change district officials and trustees say will create difficulties in passing levies and bonds.

Bond elections are notoriously difficult to pass because they require a two-thirds "super-majority." Bonds typically fund facilities projects like last summer's Genesee School expansion, and often are run several times before they pass.

That won't be possible under the new law.

In the past, MSD (and other school districts) have been as wise as serpents. They planned their bond levies at elections which would have the smallest voter turnouts; and then they would ensure that their own people were there.

By forcing the bond-levies to be voted on during the regular elections (when a lot of the elderly, those on fixed income, and other voters that wouldn’t show up for a “special” election), their influence wanes. And now they need to really have a reason for passing a levy, not just timing it for when their opponents won’t be at the polls.

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