Voters in the Post Falls and Kootenai school districts approved supplemental levies on Tuesday, while a measure in the St. Maries district was headed for defeat.

The Post Falls proposal passed with 67.6 percent approval (980-469) and the Kootenai levy passed with 56.3 percent approval (201-156).

St Maries' levy, with one precinct in Shoshone County outstanding at press time, was failing at an approval of 48.2 percent (449-417). Superintendent Joe Kren said there weren't enough votes in that precinct to make a difference in the final outcome.

The levies needed a vote of 50 percent plus one to pass. The results are still pending final canvassing of the votes.

Post Falls' levy is $4,255,000 per year for two years. Residents' school district taxes won't be raised because of a retiring bond debt for Prairie View Elementary.

"We were really conservative in what we asked for," said Donagene Turnbow, Post Falls School Board member. "We're still driving the Volkswagon; we're weren't asking for the Maserati. We'd like to thank our patrons for supporting children."

Turnbow said she also believes planning helped.

"We started to make cuts before the state did," she said, referring to decisions a few years ago.

Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said there weren't many concerns from the community about the proposal in the weeks leading up to the vote.

"It's an honor that the community sees our needs and we can continue to offer quality programs to the students as a result," Keane said.

If the levy would have failed, it would have reduced taxes by $47 a year for a home with $100,000 of taxable value.

Post Falls is still among the lowest districts in the state when it comes to using supplemental funds per student. With the levy, that amount will be $747, whereas many districts are in the $1,000 to $2,000 range.

The levy represents the supplemental levy approved by voters in 2011 for $2.615 million per year for two years, plus an additional $1.6 million per year for two years.

The state has reduced its appropriation to Post Falls by more than $3.2 million since 2009, going from $26.5 million to $23.3 million.

The district reduced its expenditures across the board by $1.5 million in response.

The levy includes $40,000 per year to add a third school resource officer to increase safety.

Kootenai floated a levy of $1.2 million per year for two years.

"On behalf of our students, faculty, staff and school board, we thank community members for their show of support," Kootenai Superintendent Lynette Ferguson said. "We sincerely appreciate your investment in the students of Kootenai School District and the future of our local community."

Ferguson said she was nervous when early results showed the levy failing, but was elated when the final votes were tallied.

Funds will support student transportation, curriculum updates, staff retention, technology infrastructure and maintenance.

District officials said the funding will help compensate for expired federal stimulus funds and state funding reductions. The levy will not pay for any new programs.

The levy will replace a supplemental levy of $647,000 a year for two years that will expire June 30.

Annual property taxes will increase by 97 cents per $1,000 of assessed value since the proposal passed. For the owner of a $150,000 home, that equates to about $12 per month.

St. Maries floated a two-year, $1.84 million supplemental levy proposal.

"I'm devastated," said Kren. "We believe the board was prudent in making cuts (before the proposal). We spent a lot of time visiting with people. I don't know what else we could have done.

"We were just trying to maintain what we had and not bring on anything new."

To lessen the amount of funding needed for next year's budget, the school board reduced $204,300 in expenditures from the budget before the proposal.

St. Maries' levy two years ago passed by a narrow margin.

Tuesday's proposal would have cost the owner of a $100,000 home with a homeowner's exemption $41 per year.

The levy would have replaced the current $1.617 million supplemental levy that is about to expire.

The supplemental levy accounts for 26 percent of the district's General Fund budget.