SANDPOINT - The Lake Pend Oreille School District is once again running a supplemental school levy through the gauntlet of voter approval. The Bonner County Daily Bee recently met with Superintendent Shawn Woodward and staff in advance of the March 10 vote to discuss the levy, what its approval would mean for the school district, and what it will cost for taxpayers footing the bill.

The district includes schools in Sandpoint and Clark Fork in Bonner County.

The key takeaway is this: the proposed two-year levy will essentially maintain the district status quo when it replaces the current levy. Generally, the overall cost offers a marginal decrease compared to current levy costs.

What the levy funds

The $15,767,484, two-year levy shaves $1 million from the current levy due to declining enrollments, while essentially maintaining the local funding level of the previous levy for the district's 11 schools and 3,600 students. Of those levy funds, 83.4 percent will be applied to staffing, which in turn funds one-third of the district's 550 employees.

The levy also funds all of the district's academic, athletic and extracurricular activities, and all curriculum materials, Woodward said, while also supporting some technology upgrades.

The proposed two-year levy is essentially equivalent to the previous levy, which it replaces. Neither are permanent.

LPOSD gives its stakeholders a good bang for their buck, Woodward said, noting the district's overall levy rate is 50 percent below the state average.

There's always a bottom line, however. Just how much will this levy actually cost taxpayers? The current levy will cost the owner of a median-priced, $226,000 home about $261 per year. The new supplemental levy will actually fall to $240 in 2015 and to $228 in 2016, an 8.2 and 12.8 percent reduction respectively.

Stakeholder return on investment

"We view it as people making an investment," Woodward said of supplemental levies.

State tests have shown seven years of "positive growth" in the district.

"Ten of our 11 schools are either four- or five-star schools," as rated by the state of Idaho, he noted.

Sandpoint High School has of late been at or near the top of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, for like-sized schools in Idaho. Last year it was first in math, reading and critical writing, Woodward said. He places that success not just on the school system, but also on the community that supports the school.

"It's not an accolade just for the high school by itself. It's a testament to our entire system," Woodward said. "It takes a ton of community support to do that - to provide the kind of education for these kids that will help them achieve those results."

SHS is also rated seventh overall in the state according to the news magazine U.S. News and World Report, placing it above the Idaho state average in college readiness, math and reading. Both SHS and Clark Fork High School are "nationally recognized" by the magazine, which scores schools in a number of areas, including standardized test scores, success of economically and least-advantaged students, and overall college readiness.

The district works to be responsive to stakeholder feedback from its students, parents and taxpayers. A recent survey asking what type of education those stakeholders wanted for kids garnered whopping 1,000 responses. A pilot program was launched at Farmin Stidwell Elementary as a result. The project is a project-based, multi-aged learning program that was filled through an application process.

"We knew there was a big desire for that to happen at the elementary level," Woodward said. "We will expand on it because we have a long waiting list that wish to get in."

He called this type of innovative program "flexing" what the school does based on stakeholder desires.

LPOSD without the levy

To call the levy "supplemental" is misleading, according to Woodward. It's actually part of the district's overall funding package, as the state of Idaho requires local schools districts to fund one-third of its own financial needs. If the levy were to fail, the impact would result in a much different school district.

The district can go back to the voters three additional times for a levy approval should the March 10 levy fail. But the damage would be done, according to Woodward, because the district is required by law to submit a budget to the state by mid-May.

Should the levy fail, he would be forced to lay off fully one-third of district staff. All extracurricular activities, including sports, would also be cut in their entirety.

Collateral damage from staff cuts would also require a "significant" increase in class sizes, according to Woodward.

"We're so dependent upon the levy just to provide all the basic education - to provide the right amount of staffing," he said.

Woodward stressed that the success seen in the LPOSD in recent years is the result of a concerted effort to develop trust in the community. Part of that trust is apparent in the transparency of the district. Much, if not all, of the data used to support supplemental levy numbers are available to anyone with an Internet connection. To view levy information, go the district website at www.lposd.org and click on the supplemental levy link at the bottom of the page.

For more information contact district administration at (208) 563-2184.