Pulling off Idaho’s first district deconsolidation in 20 years is a heavy lift for a small-town school board.
As the July split date for the Mountain View School District nears, trustees have:
- Sought advice from Idaho leaders
- Hired two co-interim superintendents
- Voted to put a levy on the ballot in May
- Appointed a new trustee this month
That doesn’t include balancing the books and keeping teachers focused and kids safe, fed and educated.
These busy few weeks coming down the homestretch are part of the deconsolidation process for Idaho’s largest geographic school district, which will open as Grangeville and Clearwater Valley districts next fall.
Grangeville to run May levy
After a $3.3 million two-year levy failed in November, Grangeville trustees were unsure if they should try again in May.
“We have had no feedback about any particular program that’s wasteful or anything like that,” Board Chair Tyler Harrington said at the time. “There’s no excess or anything that people can point at.”
On Thursday, Amanda Bush, interim superintendent, proposed an $805,000, one-year levy to cover extracurricular activities, fully staffed libraries and discipline support at Grangeville Elementary.
The levy ask is based on Bush’s cost estimates but there are still huge unknowns, she said.
The district will likely receive state funding for 40 teachers but currently employs 48, Bush said. Regardless of levy passage, Bush plans to keep all teachers on staff, but some positions will be redefined or have tasks shared between buildings. For example, Bush plans to ask art or shop teachers to cover a class daily at the middle school.
Extracurricular activities are a huge cost, Bush said. The state does not reimburse mileage for those trips and with Grangeville’s rural location, teams travel further than other districts. As part of the levy, the district would buy two vans to transport smaller groups of students at a lower cost, in hopes of reducing travel costs in the future.
There are also some increased costs that come with the deconsolidation, like a 500% increase in speech language pathology and occupational therapy as the district moves to an online system. It’s also unclear how much the district’s new insurance plan will cost now that it has less than 100 employees, Bush said.
Bush also noted that the state and federal government only cover about 25% of the district’s special education costs, leaving Grangeville to make up the $900,000 per year difference.
“If we could find a way to fund that $1.8 million, we would never need a levy ever again,” said Trustee Roy Farmer of the two years of special education costs
“That’s absolutely true,” Bush responded.
The levy would bring stability to the district in its first year, and then the board could focus on future planning, said Trustee Melissa Lane.
Trustees unanimously approved the ballot language Thursday.
Due to an inaccurate calculation of the new district’s boundaries, the cost per $100,000 of taxable revenue was incorrect Thursday. Trustees set a special meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 24, to correct the approved ballot language.
Grangeville appoints new trustee
On Wednesday, Grangeville trustees interviewed candidates for the Zone II seat after Jamie Russell, who was appointed to the board in July, did not seek re-election. No one else filed for the seat.
Trustees interviewed three people for the position in a 30-minute special meeting on Wednesday.
The board unanimously selected Andrew Ottoson, who applied for the position over concerns about the district’s recently failed levy. Trustee Bernadette Edwards was absent.
Ottoson was also frustrated that there was an empty chair that should have had a trustee in it when state superintendent Debbie Critchfield visited the district last month.
“I thought I can do better than an empty chair,” Ottoson said, with a chuckle.
Ottoson was a reporter at the Idaho County Free Press for more than a decade before working as a freelance writer, according to his LinkedIn. He was a Lions Club board member for years.
He said ongoing security funding for the district is important to him.
Board Chair Tyler Harrington said he worked with Ottoson at the Lions Club and liked his demeanor.
Principals hired as interim superintendents
Trustees hired Grangeville High Principal Amanda Bush and Clearwater Valley High Principal Vincent Martinez as co-interim superintendents of the Mountain View School District.
The pair are alumni of the high schools they now lead.
Both Bush and Martinez plan to apply to continue as superintendents come June, when the deconsolidation goes into effect.
Bush, 51, joined the district in 2007. She taught preschool before teaching first and second grade. She then taught special education at Grangeville Middle School before teaching a multi-age classroom of fourth and fifth graders.
She then worked as the district’s special education coordinator before starting as Grangeville principal in 2024. Mountain View has struggled for nearly a decade to retain a superintendent. Bush saw the problem but didn’t think she was cut out for the job until she joined the district office as special education coordinator.
As deconsolidation progressed, Bush thought about the possibility that the principal job might be combined with the superintendency. She started classes at Idaho State University to get her superintendent certification and applied to lead Mountain View after the deconsolidation vote.
“I have the time now, and I’ve got 10 more years in my career. I thought this was a good time to try something difficult and hard,” Bush said.
Martinez, 46, said he chose the superintendent role to bring stability back to Clearwater Valley after heavy leadership turnover in recent years.
Martinez started as a paraprofessional in the district before getting his certification to teach several subjects, from history to economics to marketing. He took over as the junior/senior high school principal a year and a half ago. He’s currently working on obtaining his superintendent certification.
With a one-year levy approved for the 2026-27 school year, Martinez plans to focus on creating stability for Clearwater Valley. He wants to keep staffing stable and avoid major cuts until the district’s processes are streamlined.
He hopes to advocate for community members and apply for the permanent position in June.
Critchfield, experts field deconsolidation questions
State superintendent Debbie Critchfield, a group of leaders from the Idaho Department of Education and advocacy groups traveled to Grangeville on Feb. 8 to answer community questions on deconsolidation.
“It’s a very unique situation,” Critchfield said. “Even to those of us who have been involved in education for a long time, this is new to us as well.”
Hundreds of patrons attended the three-hour-long meeting in the Grangeville gym.
Critchfield answered general board governance questions related to the 10-member Mountain View School District Board, made up of the two five-member boards for the Grangeville and Clearwater districts.
A video of the meeting is available here.
The group answered questions about open meeting law and how best to function as a school board.
Allison Hanken, policy director for the State Board of Education, answered questions about the difference between state law and the State Board-approved deconsolidation plan.
Legally, the new school districts were created after the vote in May, but the deconsolidation plan requires the two new boards to operate together to close the Mountain View School District.
She also emphasized that the State Board wants to work with the school boards and superintendents to resolve any conflicting or unclear laws, mistakes, or changes to the deconsolidation plan.
Critchfield and other experts recommended that the new districts not post all of their positions but keep the staff they have, only posting openings for newly created or unfilled roles.
“Be kind as they do this,” Critchfield said of the process. “Question first before you criticize.”
