Kalispell Public Schools Board of Trustees on Tuesday voted to run levy elections in May.

The school district may also choose to cancel but had to approve the elections to meet upcoming state deadlines. Amounts will be set at a later date. 

The vote was unanimous to hold an elementary technology levy and an 8-1 vote to run a high school general fund levy.

Trustee Lloyd Bondy, who was the lone vote against, agreed with Kalispell Chamber of Commerce Workforce and Special Initiatives Director Jenn Cronk’s suggestion during public comment to pause the May election and use the time to survey taxpayers on voting and their understanding of school finance.

“We need to do a study a poll of registered voters to determine why have they been saying no ... We need to develop a solid and professional campaign to address the identified concerns or lack of information. The Kalispell Chamber is willing to work with you side by side and to form a community action team of key stakeholders over the next 12 to 18 months to ensure that we're armed accordingly with the necessary knowledge to conduct a successful campaign,” Cronk said.

In the last levy election held in October, voters rejected four safety and technology levy requests for the elementary district and high school district. A levy of any type hasn’t passed in the high school district, which includes voters in 13 outlying partner school districts, since 2007.

Cronk also asked the district to wait until a new superintendent is hired to replace Interim Superintendent Randy Cline. A search is currently underway. Friday is the application deadline. 

Bondy said people will make up their minds the minute they learn a levy election will be held.

“They’re going to hear ‘levy’ and dig their heels in. So I think, in my personal opinion, it would be good to pause that just for this one period so that they don’t see that we’re coming up with the same thing over and over,” he said.

He also agreed the district should get into the routine of asking for incremental levy amounts versus larger amounts on an “as-needed basis,” which has been the district’s past philosophy and previous administrators and trustees have tried to move away from.

He also reminded trustees about the city of Kalispell holding an emergency responder levy election in March.

After deciding to hold levy elections trustees wanted to still partner with the chamber in pursuing an education campaign.

While trustees speculated why the people have rejected levies — longtime Trustee Jack Fallon, who provided some brief insight into past levy discussions, provided a few reasons.

“One, they don’t trust the government, which they consider us to be government. Second, they don’t want their taxes to be raised. Period. It’s that simple,” Fallon said. “The third reason would be that they don’t believe that their children’s education is any better than it was when they were in school themselves. Then you have the large part of the taxpayers that have no children.”

Before the board vote, trustees described the struggle to arrive at a decision, and the usual routine procedure extended into an hours-long discussion weighing communication approaches to solve what trustees viewed as a disconnect in the public’s understanding of school finance and needs while adequately funding education, as opposed to not wanting to support schools or students.

“I think our community has sent us a very strong message with our past levy requests,” Trustee Sue Corrigan said before the elementary technology levy vote. “And I think we need to show that we are listening to them. I also understand, and I’m torn with this decision because it’s a responsibility as trustees … to provide resources and provide oversight and this is clearly providing resources.”

“The bottom line is we have to provide for our students, for our staff, and it's a really tough spot right now,” she later continued. 

EARLY IN the meeting, district Assistant Superintendent Matt Jensen provided a brief budget update and areas factoring into budget decisions.

“There’s this sentiment I think sometimes in the community that the school district keeps asking for money. We keep getting these levy requests,” he said. 

“There’s a disconnect between what the community that's the funding mechanism for schools, which is the reality that levies need to be requested every year to keep schools fully funded,” he added. “It's not, ‘We passed the levy now we're done.’ Every year that request diminishes and you have to re-ask every year to be fully funded. That major point around levies I think is lost on most people,” Jensen said.

Cuts may be on the horizon whether or not a levy election is held. To what degree will be determined later. A final budget goes before the board in August for approval. 

Factoring into budget discussions or potential cuts will be any pay raises. It is a contract negotiation year for the Kalispell Education Association, whose members include certified staff — mainly teachers — in addition to custodians and maintenance/grounds employees. The union contracts expire June 30.

“If we can cut all we have to do in order to get the public to voting ‘yes’ on levies again, I mean, you know, in the long run, it’s going to benefit our students because the public will start voting,” Bondy said.

The filing window is also open for people interested in serving as trustees. Interested individuals have until March 28 to submit a declaration of intent and oath of candidacy with their respective schools. 

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.