Pocatello school leaders are facing difficult decisions — including possibly closing a school — as they contend with a budget that has essentially shrunk by $8 million since 2019.
In that time, enrollment has declined by more than 900 students, COVID-19 has disrupted schools nationwide, and federal and state dollars intended to stave off pandemic-related financial repercussions have expired.
Now, Pocatello/Chubbuck school trustees are grappling with the fallout.
Last school year, the district cut 14 staff positions through attrition to help balance the budget. And that was just the start. To make ends meet, at least 20 more positions and as many as 37 will have to be eliminated through attrition over the next two to three years, according to Jonathan Balls, the district’s director of business operations.
Those cuts will eventually impact students.
In this case, it may mean closing an elementary school so students can be consolidated among fewer schools. That way, students can be spread more equitably among a shrinking district staff.
At a special meeting Tuesday, trustees mulled over three possible solutions — two of which include closing a school — in front of an audience that included concerned parents and stakeholders. About 16 staff and community members attended in-person, and the recorded meeting garnered 175 views within 24 hours.
The proposals have largely been met with pushback, including a protest, public testimony and emails to trustees.
The board will need to make a decision by the end of February at the latest, Superintendent Douglas Howell said. That decision could come as early as the Jan. 21 regular meeting, Courtney Fisher, the district’s communications director, said.
But there will be a few more public meetings ahead of that, including a public hearing next week and a special meeting to follow at a later date.
Pocatello/Chubbuck School District Public Hearing
When: Wednesday, Jan 15, at 7 p.m.
Where: Pocatello High School auditorium
Patrons wishing to address the board should fill out this request.
Pocatello is not the only district facing budgetary issues and enrollment declines. At least five districts in Idaho — including West Bonner, Caldwell, Coeur d’Alene, Nampa and Boise — have recently decided to close one or more schools.
And it’s not just Idaho — school trustees are facing tough budget decisions nationwide.
The financial backstory: Why Pocatello’s budget essentially shrank by $8 million in six years
The way public schools are funded in Idaho is complicated, but essentially, the more students a district has the more state money it receives. How often students are in class also has an impact — better attendance means more funding.
Attendance rates are calculated into a figure called “support units,” and the more units a school district has, the more money it gets. A support unit basically represents the amount of money it takes to fund a classroom, and that figure can vary a bit from district to district. In Pocatello, one support unit equates to about $157,508.
Understanding those two factors will help make clear the situation Pocatello is in. From the 2019-2020 school year to the 2024-2025 school year, the district’s enrollment declined by 931 students, and it lost 51 support units. Because of that, the district’s budget today is $8 million less than it would have been if it had maintained the same amount of support units it had in 2019.
To compound matters, this school year’s decline in funding was larger than expected, Balls said. He budgeted for a loss of 13 units or about $2 million. But there ended up being a loss of 30 units and about $4.7 million.
Fisher said the enrollment decline is due to a “multitude of factors” ranging from charter school growth to smaller family sizes.
Districts statewide and nationwide are also grappling with the expiration of federal COVID relief dollars.
And in Idaho, school leaders are still adjusting to a switch in how schools are funded. During the pandemic era, the state temporarily based funding on enrollment alone without taking attendance into account — which generally meant increased and more predictable funding. But last school year, the state reverted back to attendance-based funding, which created widespread financial hardship for districts.
Pocatello trustees are mulling three proposals — and none will make everyone happy
To address the enrollment and funding declines, the Pocatello/Chubbuck school board is considering three proposals:
- Closing Washington Elementary and redrawing boundaries
- Closing Tendoy Elementary and redrawing boundaries
- Keeping all schools open and redrawing boundaries
A committee made up of six staff members and seven parents developed the proposals. The committee recommended closing Washington Elementary, partly because of its age and immediate maintenance needs.
Washington was built in the 1920s and would require millions of dollars in improvements right away, according to district calculations (see page 2 of this document). But over time, both schools would require more than $10 million for maintenance needs.
| School | Maintenance costs over the next 5 years | Maintenance costs over the next 20-plus years |
| Washington Elementary (built 192os) | $3.1 million | $13.4 million |
| Tendoy Elementary (built 1959) | $640,000 | $10.7 million |
Washington Elementary parents and supporters have spoken out against the closure at multiple meetings, and via a protest. Tendoy parents and supporters have also opposed a potential closure via emails to the board and public comment.
And parents have pushed back on the various ways the boundaries were redrawn in the three scenarios, since it would mean some students districtwide would have to potentially change schools next fall.
As Trustee Jim Facer put it, no matter which option they choose, “We’re not going to be able to please everybody.”
“I don’t know that I’m ready to pull the plug on a school just yet,” Trustee Heather Clarke said. “Spreading the icing a little bit further — is that what’s going to be best for our kids right now?”
But later in the meeting, Howell said that “the icing can be so thin that you have none on a certain part of the cake. And that’s essentially where we’re going to be headed,” if the district doesn’t close a school.
A.J. Watson, the director of elementary education, said the third option — just redrawing boundaries without closing a school — would have more downsides than benefits so it would not be worthwhile. He added that keeping all schools open could be “more disruptive” than closing a school.
If all schools were kept open, classroom sizes would become even more unbalanced across the district, Fisher said in an interview with EdNews. And the district’s financial stability would be impacted, Balls said in an interview.
Ultimately, school leaders are trying to take a “proactive step to align our enrollment with our staffing and maintain the financial health of the district,” Fisher said.
Related reading: Pocatello trustees consider elementary closure amid enrollment declines
