RATHDRUM — The Lakeland School District has been on a levy roller coaster ride for two years.

The current $9.5 million-a-year levy, accounting for about 22% of the budget, has found its way to voting patrons three times. It’s failed twice, including in November, out of fears of indoctrination and overspending. Previously, the community had supported a levy for more than 15 years.

Without the levy, which expires in June, a district that has been known for small class sizes and excellent academics will likely lose teachers, electives and maybe even full-day kindergarten.

Parents, teachers and students are showing up in large numbers at board meetings demanding answers: 

• Will trustees float the levy again in May?
• Will they ask for a smaller amount, to flip some of the no votes?
• Will they tell voters what children stand to lose with the loss of $9.5 million a year?

Trustees have responded with a resounding: We don’t know. 

At a series of recent meetings, trustees have proposed plans that reduce bus routes, ask teachers to write their own curriculum or cut all-day kindergarten — all saving thousands of dollars, but nowhere near millions.

Patrons continue to wait and watch as the board chair and superintendent spar over the unpalatable possibilities, and as deadlines loom.

The makeup of the board

The five board members are typically at odds, rarely voting in unison, which makes it more difficult to govern a district of 11 schools and about 4,500 students.

The two longest-serving board members, chair Michelle Thompson and trustee Ramona Grissom, were elected just four years ago.  

The pair is famous for championing the most wide-open pandemic back-to-school model in the region in August 2020 that did not include any masking requirements, according to The Spokesman-Review. 

They frequently vote together, including voting against re-running a levy last May after a narrow failure of their replacement levy in March 2023. They both were endorsed by the hardline Kootenai County Republican Central Committee. 

Thompson has been the most controversial figure on the board in recent years. She survived a recall effort in 2021 over complaints she failed to uphold board member codes, and she routinely spars with the superintendent and district’s chief financial officer during board meetings.

Area wrestling coach David Quimby, also endorsed by the KCRCC, was elected in 2021. He often sides with Thompson and Grissom in 3-2 majorities.

Bob Jones, 81, who served the district for nearly half his life as a teacher, principal, and superintendent, joined the board in 2021. He is often at odds with Thompson and Grissom, voting with his frequent ally, Randi Bain.

Bain, appointed in 2021 and re-elected in 2023, is the rare person who is endorsed by both the KCRCC and the more moderate North Idaho Republicans. 

Thompson and Grissom have endorsed several changes, including cancelling the district’s Idaho School Boards Association membership. Lakeland is one of just two districts in the state that is not an ISBA member, along with Pleasant Valley, a small elementary district in southern Idaho. ISBA provides model policies for school boards and extensive training for trustees on how to conduct board business. They also lobby for school boards and districts at the Legislature and provide legal consultations. 

Thompson and Grissom also led a move to review and re-approve all supplemental material used by teachers, feeling that the prior board had been too lenient in allowing some content into the classroom. 

Changing demographics 

Lakeland’s levy failed in March 2023, for the first time in more than 15 years. Trustees Bain, Quimby and Jones voted to return it to the ballot in May.

In response to the failure, Lakeland parent Suzanne Gallus founded Friends of Lakeland Schools, a political action committee to advocate for the levy. As president, she canvased the community and found a lack of understanding about the levy.

She also found newcomers were concerned with indoctrination and excessive spending in schools. The Lakeland area has grown immensely, with about 9,500 people voting on the May 2023 supplemental levy, compared to 2,300 voters in August 2019. Many newcomers are lured by Idaho’s reputation as a red state with low taxes. 

“They come here with a preconceived notion of what public schools are and we are just not like that,” said Gallus, a mother of seven. 

Newcomers also aren’t likely to understand that North Idaho districts rely more heavily on levies than the southern part of the state due to their proximity to higher-paying Washington. 

Gallus said she realized supporters needed to do something different to reach those voters. She and a group of volunteers delivered yard signs and door knocked in hopes of educating their neighbors. Despite KCRCC opposition, the May 2023 levy narrowly passed.

But that levy runs out in less than a year and Lakeland’s November attempt to replace it failed with just 48% support.

Gallus said there was not a sense of urgency in the campaign from trustees. It was not made clear that $6 million of the $9.5 million funds salaries and benefits — and without the levy, the district would likely lose teachers. 

“Even though we are only 19 months away from our failed levy it’s hard to forget, but we did,” Gallus said. “Not having a plan like closing a school or letting go of 80 staff members or cutting sports. Those are concrete things that our volunteers could have gone out and told people.” 

Failure fallout

The board has held multiple widely attended meetings following the failure last month, where attendees criticized the board for their lack of transparency and unrealistic views of what programs and staff would be cut without levy dollars. 

Thompson, Grissom and Quimby voiced skepticism about running the levy again, but also said they don’t want to lay off teachers. Jones and Bain agreed that laying off teachers is a last resort but would likely be a reality. 

Dozens of patrons sent emails to trustees, and the majority asked for the levy to be re-run at a lower rate. Only a handful opposed another levy ask, according to public records obtained by EdNews.

Many criticized the board, in emails and in meetings, for not already having a plan for how they’d cut back if the levy failed. 

“The funds generated by this levy are not a new or unprecedented tax burden, but rather a continuation of the local funding that has supported our schools for decades,” wrote James Chambers, a local parent. “Unfortunately, there has been widespread confusion and misinformation surrounding the levy, with many voters mistakenly believing that the proposed increase represented a new or excessive tax. This misunderstanding needs to be addressed.”

A former district parent, Nate De Putter, argued in an email that Lakeland is full of leftist teachers and ideologies that have driven out the most conservative 20% of families, including his own children. He went on to suggest solutions like live-broadcasting what’s happening in classrooms and firing all non-teacher district employees and replacing them with graduates of conservative Christian universities like Hillsdale College and Liberty University. 

“This community has rejected the levy with 87% turnout, that is incredible turnout,” he wrote. “Overturning this decision will be illegitimate without similar turnout, stop forcing us to pay for the indoctrination of our children.”

Thompson responded to the email saying, there is “a lot of information in it to digest; however, you are on point.” 

Jones also thanked De Putter for his thoughts, noting it’s important to listen to all ideas before offering to explain the history of the district. 

“The district has always maintained a conservative fiscal approach and reflected the conservative values of the community at large,” Jones wrote. 

Jones said conservative values can align with supporting the district. 

“I voted for Donald Trump three times and I have always supported the school district because somewhere in the distant past, someone paid it forward by paying for my education,” Jones said. 

Looking to the future

Trustees and district administrators tangle over what schools would look like without a levy.

At a work session, Quimby proposed getting rid of Chromebooks. Grissom suggested administration salaries are too high. Jones often pointed out that “there’s no way to make it work without going to staff.” 

Then on Monday, Superintendent Lisa Arnold presented four ideas to the board. Thompson was an hour late and Grissom didn’t attend. Thompson scheduled an interview with EdNews but did not answer the phone at the scheduled time. 

The meeting room in the district office was at capacity, with about 30 patrons standing outside in the cold and watching the Friends of Lakeland livestream of the meeting. 

Arnold suggested closing an elementary school and moving those children across the five remaining elementary schools. 

Arnold presented other cost-saving ideas: moving to a four-day school week, or getting rid of teacher prep periods if the district stayed on a five-day schedule. Getting rid of prep periods would reduce the length of students’ school day, making single-route busing easier. 

None of the proposals had dollar amounts tied to them. 

As Arnold’s presentation continued, Thompson appeared to grow frustrated.

“We have no plan,” Thompson said.  “So if we go to run another supplemental levy for even a lesser dollar amount and it does pass, what is our plan?” 

Jones jumped in and said, “that’s what you heard tonight.” 

Arnold followed to say she will create two budgets, one with the levy and one without.

Arnold, who is going to be off work for a few weeks to recover from shoulder surgery, asked to move the board’s work session to January. 

Thompson opposed the idea. She questioned why progress was so slow in preparing budget cut options. Chief Financial Officer Jessica Grantham responded that they had been working day and night on the issue for weeks and have made significant progress. 

As an example, Grantham said they discovered it would cost $1,800 a year for students to pay to play sports. That dollar amount would be for all three athletic seasons, she said. 

Eventually, Grantham and Assistant Superintendent Lynn Pasley said they could present the budget cut options at a Dec. 18 work session. That meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.