COEUR d'ALENE - Public school officials in Kootenai County and throughout Idaho are reviewing student attendance numbers this week to see if more kids are showing up for school than were expected, and budgeted for.

Idaho law allows growing districts to seek emergency local property tax levies, without voter approval, to cover the costs of educating additional, un-budgeted-for students.

Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Hazel Bauman said attendance in her district is up by 60 so far this fall. Last year at this time, the average daily attendance was 9,993 and this year it is 10,053.

Bauman told The Press she hasn't yet decided whether she will recommend to the board that they move forward with an emergency levy. For 60 students, Bauman said the additional property tax measure would bring roughly $250,000 more into the district's budget.

"I'm leaning toward recommending against the levy. Our community has been so supportive. They just passed a $32.7 million bond last week," Bauman said. "I think we really have to honor the taxpayers. Just because we can (seek an emergency levy), doesn't mean we should."

Coeur d'Alene school trustees are meeting at 10 a.m. today at the Midtown Center, 1505 N. Fifth St., to review the attendance data and decide whether they will seek an emergency levy.

Districts generally review their students' average daily attendance for the first three days of school to determine if their district is eligible for emergency tax dollars, and they are required to submit emergency levy requests to their county's board of commissioners before the second Monday in September.

The jump in attendance in Coeur d'Alene comes after two consecutive years of slight declines. The last time the district was eligible for, and received, an emergency levy was in 2009. That year's increase of 74 students brought $375,000 into the district and cost the owner of $250,000 in taxable assessed property about $11 per year.

In the Rathdrum-based Lakeland district, there will be no emergency levy because the number of students showing up for school is significantly down for the second consecutive year.

"With the new charter school opening, we knew they were going to be pulling students from us," said Tom Taggart, Lakeland's business and operations manager.

North Idaho STEM Academy, a kindergarten- through eighth-grade charter school located in Rathdrum, opened its doors this week.

Taggart said his district's average daily attendance declined by about 127 students this year. A year ago, Lakeland's attendance unexpectedly dropped by 133 students, and the district consequently lost nearly $500,000 in state funding.

"This year, we knew in advance we were going down, and we set the budget for it," Taggart said.

Numbers are up in the Post Falls District. By Wednesday, there were about 20 additional students showing up for school, and the number rose slightly on Thursday.

Superintendent Jerry Keane told The Press his district applied for, and was granted, an extension with the county, so they have until Sept. 17 to review their attendance data.

"We would like to monitor our enrollment a little longer prior to making any final decisions," Keane said.

Last year, Post Falls schools had a 31-student attendance spike, and could have sought emergency levy dollars, but did not, because their taxpayers voluntarily approved a tax hike, a supplemental levy, the previous spring.