The Coeur d’Alene School District will go to voters in August for a levy — a request that, in part, reflects recent national events.
Trustees voted unanimously Monday to seek a 10-year, $80 million plant facilities levy, the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.
The levy will appear on the Aug. 30 ballot.
Some of the $80 million is already spoken for, the Press reported. If the levy passes, the district would use $25 million to address deferred maintenance. District officials say they have $5 million in safety and security updates they would like to address sooner rather than later.
“We have some elementary schools that have four-foot fences,” Superintendent Shon Hocker told the Press last week. “Obviously, if we could make that fence a little taller, that costs money.”
School districts can run levy and bond elections on four dates during the year. The Aug. 30 date is the first since 19 students and two adults died in a mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas, elementary school — an attack that has intensified the national debate over school safety and gun violence.
Plant facilities levies are designed to cover building maintenance, repairs and upgrades. Depending on the size of the request, plant facilities levies require a 55%, 60% or two-thirds supermajority to pass. The Coeur d’Alene levy will require 55% support, the Press reported.
