Voters in the Coeur d'Alene School District gave a big thumbs-up Tuesday to a property tax levy on which the school system relies heavily to fund its education programs and services.

The two-year supplemental levy will provide the district with $15 million per year for each of the next two years.

The measure was approved by 72.8 percent of the 5,923 votes cast. There were 1,609 ballots cast opposing the levy. Passage required a simple majority, more than 50 percent of the votes.

"Obviously, we want to thank the voters for putting their trust in us," said Coeur d'Alene School Superintendent Matt Handelman.

He noted that while a large percentage of voters affirmed that trust with their votes, there are still nearly 30 percent who don't have the same level of confidence in the schools.

"We know we still have room to improve," Handelman said.

The bulk of the levy will replace an expiring two-year levy of $12.9 million per year that was passed by voters in 2011 and again in 2013.

The additional $2.1 million 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.

By approving the levy, voters agreed to an annual tax increase estimated to be $31 for the owner of a home with $200,000 taxable assessed value.

Handelman said he heard great support for the levy throughout the campaign.

"I think our community has grown to expect more from our schools, to expect more for our kids," Handelman said.

Voter-approved, two-year supplemental levies are in place in districts throughout Idaho. They are used to fill the gaps between state funding and the cost of running school districts.

According to Idaho Education News, successful passage of Tuesday's levy in Coeur d'Alene makes it the largest in the state. The West Ada School District has a $14 million levy and Boise has the authority to collect $14 million per year, but the district has never collected the maximum.

Coeur d'Alene School District voters have long supported supplemental maintenance and operations levies, passing one every other year since 1984.

The funds from these supplemental levies can only be used to support a school district's maintenance and operations costs. They cannot be used to build or make major renovations to school facilities, so districts must ask taxpayers to support other tax or bond measures if they need to go into debt to finance buildings.