Voters in many school districts throughout the state will head to the polls March 10 to decide whether their school systems will continue to receive local property tax dollars to help maintain education services for the next two years.

These supplemental levies provide school districts with maintenance and operations funds that are in addition to the money the districts receive each year from the state.

Over the last decade, the local property tax dollars that come from supplemental levies have become increasingly essential to local school district budgets.

Idaho law requires that supplemental levies be approved by a simple majority - more than half the votes cast - and they cannot remain on a local tax roll for more than two years, making levy elections a biennial necessity.

For Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Matt Handelman, the funding mechanism and its built-in requirement that districts must ask local voters for their support every other year has its drawbacks, and its benefits.

"The challenge lies in our dependency on local taxpayer support," Handelman said. "Our opportunity lies in showing to the taxpayer, every two years, that our students and our schools are worthy of the local investment."

Coeur d'Alene School District patrons are being asked to provide $30 million in local property taxes - $15 million per year -- for the next two years. The supplemental funding represents 20 percent of the school district's general fund.

If approved, the new levy will replace an expiring $12.9 million supplemental levy first approved by 64 percent of voters in 2011. It successfully passed again in 2013 by 66 percent. That levy, which supports a multitude of school district programs, activities, services and safety measures, will sunset on June 30.

The additional $2.1 million being asked for in the replacement levy will fund a multi-year plan to hire more teachers in order to reduce class sizes. It will also pay for new classroom materials and up-to-date textbooks.

With successful passage at the polls, the estimated cost of the new levy to property owners is $1.97 per $1,000 of taxable assessed property value. For the owner of a $200,000 home minus the $89,580 homeowner's exemption, the annual cost of the new levy is estimated to be $217.56. That same homeowner is already paying $186.60 annually for the expiring levy. Therefore, the projected annual tax increase for the owner of a $200,000 home minus the homeowner's exemption is $30.96, or $2.58 per month. 

Voters in Coeur d'Alene and Hayden have provided longtime local property tax support for the school district's maintenance and operations. Levies for this purpose have been approved by voters every two years - except once in 1984 - for nearly three decades.

"I believe the quality education we provide our students is directly linked to the incredible community support our local school system receives," Coeur d'Alene school board chair Christa Hazel said.

Levies, a growing need

Of the 115 school districts in Idaho, 93 are currently collecting local property taxes through supplemental levies. In 2000, just 44 districts had levies on the books.

The use of local property tax dollars to supplement state public education funding began accelerating about a decade ago in Idaho, according to a report released last year by the nonprofit Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. The report was produced by Mike Ferguson, Idaho's former, longtime chief economist who in 2011, launched Idaho CFP, a state budget and policy think tank.

The increasing reliance on local property taxes for public education coincides with a decline in overall funding for public education that began in 2001, when there was an economic recession.

In his report, Ferguson notes that the biggest jump in property tax levies for public education came in 2008, a year after Idaho lawmakers shifted public school financing from property taxes to sales and income taxes.

" ... levies only grew by $2 million from FY 2006 to FY 2007, but shot up by $22 million from FY 2007 to FY 2008," Ferguson wrote.

The growth of levies was further fueled by a dramatic decline in sales tax revenue when the economy plummeted in 2008, and school districts subsequently saw a $128 million reduction in funding from the state education budget.

State department of education statistics show that in 2006, $78.7 million were collected through supplemental levies by Idaho school districts. By 2010, the total jumped to $136.3 million. For this school year, it's up to $181 million.

The Idaho Legislature's Great Recession cuts to public education funding are slowly being restored. Still, the state education budget remains significantly behind where it was in 2007-2008, pointing toward the likelihood of continued, growing reliance by local school districts on supplemental levies.

Other March 10 school levy elections

Voters in Post Falls will consider a $4.65 million levy per year levy that will provide the district with $9.31 million over the next two years. That levy, if approved, will replace an expiring levy of $4.25 million per year. Taxpayers are not expected to see an increase in the amount of school taxes they are currently paying if the measure is approved.

Kootenai Joint School District voters are being asked for $1.8 million in local property tax support over the next two years at $900,000 per year. For the owner of a $200,000 home with a homeowners exemption, the cost of the levy would be $17.75 per month.

Plummer-Worley School District voters will consider a supplemental levy of $550,000 a year for two years, the same amount as the existing expiring levy. School officials say that if approved, the measure will not result in higher tax bills for property owners.

Editor's note: This version reflects a correction and clarification in the cost to property owners of the Coeur d'Alene School District's proposed levy going before voters on March 10.