From the very first one-room schoolhouse to the sixteen schools of today, the Twin Falls community has a long history of supporting education. Over the past 15 years, the Twin Falls School District has utilized a supplemental levy to ensure that our school system provides a safe and secure learning environment, a wide variety of student activities free of upfront costs for families, and sufficient numbers of staff members to maintain optimal class sizes, direct student support, and ensure efficient operations.

This year, the TFSD is pursuing a renewal of this supplemental levy to cover rising costs and replace state maintenance funding for $7.2 million per year for two years. The District determined that a continuation of the levy would allow the District to maintain programs and focus on school security while being mindful of property tax concerns.

The levy provides the necessary funding for enhanced school security. The levy pays for school safety personnel like school resource officers, armed elementary security guards, and behavior and safety aides. The TFSD is one of only a few districts in the state that provides armed security personnel at all schools. These are critical components of the TFSD safety and security plan. It is our responsibility as a community to do what we can to ensure that our school campuses are safe places where our students feel welcomed and protected. This has never been more true than it is today.

With roughly 80 percent of the district budget going towards employees, this levy pays for the people who have a direct impact on the academic success of our students and the future success of our community. Roughly 34 classified (secretaries, cooks, custodians, and classroom aides), 20 certified (teachers, instructional coaches, and counselors), and 4 administrative staff positions are supported by the supplemental levy. Additionally, the levy provides funding that allows the district to maintain the basic operations of student activities like athletics, band, debate, drama, and choir so that there is no upfront cost to families for their children to participate in these programs.

The estimated average annual cost to the taxpayer on the proposed levy is a tax of $86 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, per year, based on current conditions. The proposed levy replaces an existing levy that expires on June 30, 2027 and that currently costs $86 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. Therefore, if the proposed levy is approved, the tax per $100,000 of taxable assessed value is not expected to change.

If all current tax relief measures from the state remain in place, we project that the actual rate will be $65 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. This means if the levy is approved, tax rates are likely to decrease while our schools will continue to be supported with this important funding source.

For more information about the levy, visit https://www.tfsd.org/page/tfsd-supplemental-levy-renewal

The Twin Falls School District Board of Trustees believes that levy elections are an important community decision, and we encourage all community members to participate by voting. Election Day is Nov. 3, and you can vote at your regular polling place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Eric Smallwood is chairman of the board for the Twin Falls School District.