Mountain View School District Superintendent Alica Holthaus went through a roller coaster of emotions looking at election results Tuesday night: surprise, elation, and confusion.
Holthaus is overseeing the first school district deconsolidation in Idaho in nearly two decades as Mountain View prepares to split into the Grangeville and Clearwater Valley school districts next year.
Clearwater Valley’s levy passed with 54% in support, while Grangeville’s failed with 54% opposed.
“I’m super thrilled. What a great way to start a new school district,” Holthaus said of the Clearwater Valley vote.
Surprise set in with the Grangeville results though.
“The community has seemed happy, I really honestly felt like the community was feeling like we were on the right track,” she said. “So I went into that thinking, ‘I’m not hearing any negative, I’m not hearing a lot of pushback.'”
Supplemental levy voting played a key role in the deconsolidation process with a history of animosity between Kooskia, where Clearwater Valley is located, and Grangeville.
Kooskia residents told trustees during deconsolidation hearings that many felt they didn’t get as much bang for their buck in levy dollars, with less elective and extracurricular activities available at their high school. Elk City residents also expressed concern over being in the Clearwater Valley district during deconsolidation, in part due to less levy support in the area and fears of the school being closed.
Meanwhile, Grangeville residents were historically supportive of supplemental levy asks. The vote was a shock, said Grangeville board chair Tyler Harrington.
“I thought there would be a lot more support than there was,” he said.
Grangeville
Grangeville Trustees asked voters for a $3.3 million two-year levy, costing taxpayers $180 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. A slight decrease from the current Mountain View levy at $182.16.
“We have had no feedback about any particular program that’s wasteful or anything like that,” Harrington said. “There’s no excess or anything that people can point at.”
Holthaus agreed that there were few questions or concerns voiced to her or trustees about the levy amount.
“A levy vote is really, what do I want my local district to look like,” Holthaus said. Without the levy, “you will have a school based on what the state funds- but it’s what do you want your school to look like? I think it’s more than that, extracurriculars, sports, current curriculum.”
Harrington said he thinks the failure is largely that when people have a chance to vote on a tax, they vote no, along with a perceived certainty that it would pass.
“Clearwater Valley district was really concerned whether they would pass theirs or not so they were incredibly motivated,” Harrington said. “I think Grangeville, they didn’t think it was a big deal and nobody showed up.”
Holthaus disagreed, citing the 43% voter turnout in Idaho County, far above the state voter turnout of about 29%.
“It failed because apparently the voters want something different, and what do the voters want different? I don’t know,” Holthaus said.
One thing is for sure, neither Holthaus or Harrington know what they’ll do next.
“We may just let it fail and cut a lot of programs in our school next year,” Harrington said.
Without a levy, Harrington said he expects it will be nearly impossible to hire a superintendent. Mountain View has struggled for years to keep a superintendent. Holthaus is retired and came back to see the district through deconsolidation.
“This district is notorious for chewing up superintendents and ruining careers,” Harrington said he has heard from candidates. “Nobody, that’s qualified, wants to run our district.”
He expects residents to be frustrated when Grangeville has to cut all sports and extracurricular activities and some elective courses, among other program reductions.
“I just know people are going to be really, really mad if we have to make the cuts that are required to balance our budget,” he said.
But for the long term, that might be the right move.
“No one believes us because we’ve kind of limped and limped and limped along,” Harrington said. “In the long term, it would actually be good for the district to let it fail and see the implications of it, but that’s very difficult to do.”
Clearwater Valley
“I am so thrilled for CV,” Holthaus said of the levy passage.
The levy is a $811,989, one-year levy that will cost taxpayers $115 per $100,000 of assessed value, also a decrease from the current Mountain View levy of $182.16.
Current Board Chair, Jon Menough, said he was partially surprised but also thought the reduced cost made voters more comfortable.
“It was cheaper and that has been one of the arguments for a long time, that the valley and areas around the area were actually supporting the Grangeville schools,” Menough said, circling back to the deconsolidation discussions.
While Menough is happy for the district, he lost his election bid Tuesday night when 71% of voters backed his opponent, Caitland Tow.
Menough, 80, was the only Mountain View Trustee appointed to the Clearwater Valley Board.
“I felt a need to be involved at that point for that reason alone,” Menough said.”Going forward, they’re still awfully green.”
Tow, 39, is an active volunteer at Elk City’s one-classroom K-8 school and works at the afterschool program. She’s the parent to a 7-year-old and a 5-year-old who attend the school.
“I’m excited to be a positive voice for our little community up here,” Tow said.
Tow said she believes the levy passed because valley voters are more educated on what the levy funds now, like sports and extracurriculars. The levy also helps Elk City’s school stay open, despite it’s enrollment of just 12 students.
