Marsh Valley trustees decided Monday evening to cut four staff positions to right their budget, after a $3.5 million levy ask failed last month. Trustees will also pull funds from savings and use one-time state money to shore up their budgetary gaps — moves that will salvage a combined $1.59 million. 

Trustees had considered more extreme options, such as closing Downey Elementary School, transitioning elementary schools to grade-level centers, cutting full-day kindergarten to half-day or eliminating sports.

But at a regular board meeting that stretched on for four hours, trustees decided on a set of more mild solutions that essentially amount to a Band-aid and will get the district through the next school year. 

Superintendent Gary Tucker said trustees had considered more extreme measures in order to “provide the best education possible for our kids,” as opposed to a “temporary measure” that will negatively “impact education.” For example, some elementary classrooms may move from serving one grade level to two, and some elective offerings will be cut. 

“I wish that we could make every decision based on what is best for kids, but the reality is we have to do what’s best for kids that is within our budget,” Tucker told EdNews in a phone interview Tuesday. 

While trustees voted unanimously in support of the conservative raft of solutions, Trustee Paige Armstrong had expressed frustration with the careful approach, which she said would do “nothing to improve education.” 

“It doesn’t solve anything,” she said. “And next April, we are sitting here having the same conversation.”

But Armstrong acknowledged she won’t be there for that conversation. She’ll be stepping down in July to serve a church mission with her husband. 

Trustee turnover has plagued the Marsh Valley School Board recently. Trustee Kathy Egan was recalled in the November election and replaced by Morgan Sweat. Trustee Bill Shurtliff resigned abruptly in April, and his replacement, Ralph Wheatley, was sworn in Monday. The board will now look for someone to replace Armstrong. Board Chairman Bill Jons’ term will expire this fall, and he is not seeking reelection. 

Being a Marsh Valley trustee has been a contentious job lately, as the district has grappled with the conversion of Lava Elementary to a charter academy and the recent levy failure and its aftermath. Tucker acknowledged this Monday. “Somebody needs to be on the board, and somebody needs to be making decisions for the district, and frequently that comes at a cost, socially if nothing else,” he said. “So we do appreciate what you do.”

At a special meeting held late last month, trustees were unable to decide how to move forward and tabled decisionmaking. On Monday, Jons said that meeting left him feeling “a little ticked.”

“We looked dysfunctional,” he said. 

Patrons weigh in: ‘Indecision creates even more unrest’

Arianne Hunsaker, president of Mountain View Elementary School’s parent-teacher organization, urged trustees to decide on how to move forward. 

“Within the community, the indecision creates even more unrest,” she said. 

Christa McKee, co-president of the Marsh Valley Education Association, agreed and advocated that trustees keep all-day kindergarten: “Please do not punish our youngest learners to balance your budget.”

Community member Barbara Cummins said she voted against the levy, but said that didn’t mean she wanted to see drastic measures taken.

“Do not misinterpret us as wanting to close down schools,” she said. “The levy did not pass, in my humble opinion, because we are tired of the lack of proper use of our tax money … The people are stating that the board needs to stick within the budget, just like every other citizen has to live within their budget.”

Marsh Valley last passed a levy in 2023, but the two-year, $2.2 million measure will expire this summer. Tucker said levies are not the norm for the district; the 2023 levy was one of only a few such measures in district history. 

That’s somewhat unusual in Idaho, where 76% of traditional districts had a supplemental levy on their books in 2024-25. 

Trustees steer away from extreme solutions, float running another levy

“It’s important to note that the state of Idaho funds education to barely educate kids,” Armstrong said at the meeting. “Anything extra is the burden of the taxpayers to pay.”

And she said she wanted to keep “extras” like all-day kindergarten and sports. 

“The No. 1 factor that drives student achievement long-term is all-day kindergarten, (with benefits) clear into the fifth and sixth grade,” she said. And while schools’ primary focus is not sports, “that is the one thing that keeps a lot of kids in school, but also keeps a lot of parents engaged in education.”

Plus, eliminating sports and all-day kindergarten would drive people away to other school districts or charter schools, Armstrong said. 

Jons suggested the board learn from charter schools and innovate education to draw in more students. For example, the district could provide a Spanish immersion program. 

“The reason we’re losing students from Downey is we’re not selling a product that they want.” Jons said. 

Sweat pushed the board to drop talk of school closures. 

“All we’ve done is talked about consolidation and the unknown has continued to chase kids off,” he said. “I think we should quit talking about it and figure out how to operate with the schools we’ve got.”

The conversation turned to the need to cut staff positions, and which ones should be on the chopping block. 

“I’m having a tough time talking about this like this, when we’re talking about people’s livelihood,” Tucker said. 

At one point in the conversation, Jons riffed that “maybe (the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District) will adopt us.”

“They would be unwilling, because that would be a catastrophic financial blunder on their part,” Tucker said. 

With time running out before school starts again in August, trustees opted for the more mild solutions, which will mean facing a similar conversation next school year. 

Trustees also floated the idea of running another levy in November or May. 

“People in our communities don’t know how essential the levy was,” said Sweat. 

Tucker seemed hopeful about the odds of a potential future ballot measure. 

“If we can show our patrons in good faith that we’re making all the reductions we possibly can and still provide the best education we can for our kids, I think that our patrons will be more open to passing a levy,” he told EdNews. “Our people are good people in Marsh Valley, and they do value education.”