The Lewiston School District will continue its push for a local sales tax to pay for building — despite opposition from school trustees statewide.
Delegates at the Idaho School Boards Association’s annual convention Friday rejected Lewiston’s local-option sales tax resolution. It’s a novel building finance approach; a 10-year half-cent sales tax for a new Nez Perce County jail is coming off the books, and the district wants to ask voters for a similar sales tax to build a new high school.
“We’ll still move forward for sponsorship of a bill,” district superintendent Bob Donaldson said, according to the Associated Press. “Or (be) looking for a senator who has a bill that would meet our needs.”
ISBA delegates approved two other resolutions designed to help schools pay for building projects, including a renewed push to lower the two-thirds supermajority to pass bond issues. Lewiston sought bond issues for a high school in 2004, 2010 and 2011, falling short of the two-thirds threshold each time.