It passed: Voters approve West Bonner levy

PRIEST RIVER — The general feeling after the West Bonner County School District passed its levy Tuesday, May 20 was a celebratory one when the board of trustees met for their regular board meeting May 21.

Chair Ann Yount did a little happy dance in her seat, and staff and community members expressed their gratitude after the maintenance and operations levy received 2,101 yes votes, or 54.54%, to 1,751 no votes, or 45.46%.

“I’d like to thank everybody for their hard work, dedication, truth-seeking and willingness to meet the community, sometimes on a daily basis,” WBCSD Business Manager Kendra Salesky said, reading a letter at the school board meeting that she had written. She thanked Debra Buttrey and other volunteers for going through the district’s finances and assisting with the audits.

“I feel this was them being able to build a solid foundation financially for us and has shown the community that we are moving forward in the right direction,” Salesky said. “I feel this is a huge reason the levy has passed.”

The race was close the evening of May 20, but the levy pulled ahead to pass as the finished votes were counted shortly after 11 p.m.

“I’m very pleased for our students, because this is really about them,” Superintendent Kim Spacek said. “I’m grateful to our staff, certified and classified, and community members who support our kids.”

Several people, including Salesky, and trustees Kathy Nash and Paul Turco, acknowledged that the work did not stop with the levy’s passage.

“The community has shown us that they trust us, and we need to do everything we can to earn and keep that trust,” Nash said.

Turco said that it was important to advocate that the State of Idaho better fund public education, especially since another levy will most likely be on the horizon after this one expires.

“Two years goes by fast,” Turco said. “The state does not properly fund education; we all know that. We need to stay in touch with our representatives.”

This was the district’s third attempt to pass a levy, and one that prevented the possible closure of two of the district’s three elementary schools, which include Priest River, Idaho Hill and Priest Lake Elementaries.

Funds from the twoyear, $2.35 millionper- year maintenance and operation levy will go toward sports and extracurricular activities, school buses, music and arts programs, nurse and school psychologists, utilities at the closed junior high school, classroom supplies, learning materials, staff training, advanced placement, electives, teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors, kitchen and facilities staff and more.

There will be a hearing for the 2025–2026 fiscal year budget Wednesday, June 18 before the regular school board meeting (TBA).

SOPHIA MATTICE-ALDOUS IS A MURROW NEWS FELLOW WORKING DIRECTLY WITH NEWSROOMS AT THE NEWPORT MINER AND RANGE MEDIA THROUGH A PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY. HER REPORTING IS AVAILABLE FOR USE VIA CREATIVE COMMONS WITH CREDIT.