Idaho’s largest school district could be split in two, or be left trying to heal years of resentment and misunderstanding, after a deconsolidation vote next week. 

Residents of Grangeville, Kooskia, and Elk City will vote Tuesday on whether to split the Mountain View School District into two smaller districts with more local control. 

The current district is the largest in Idaho geographically, stretching from Oregon to Montana, with the schools forming a triangle with Grangeville on one side and Kooskia on the other with Elk City in the middle to the south.

It used to be even larger until 2006, when the then-Grangeville School District split into the Salmon River and Mountain View districts. That was the last time an Idaho school district deconsolidated.

Deconsolidation has come up in the Mountain View district before. Last year, the board of trustees made it clear that if a two-year, $5.8 million supplemental levy did not pass, the district would likely close Clearwater Valley High School and Elk City School. That levy passed for the first time in years, after four consecutive denials.

The school board then began the process of putting together a plan to deconsolidate and holding public hearings on the issue. The trustees unanimously voted to approve the plan and received the green light from the State Board of Education in December. 

The district would be split into two new districts: Clearwater Valley and Grangeville. Elk City would go with Clearwater Valley, a fact that frustrated some community members, but trustees ultimately said the plan made the most sense financially. 

A simple majority of voters districtwide would have to support deconsolidation. Then a majority of voters in the proposed smaller district, Clearwater Valley, would also have to vote in support for the measure to move forward.

If deconsolidation doesn’t pass, Superintendent Alica Holthaus said, “we focus on healing.” 

But if it does pass, the next few months will be busy. The State Board will appoint new trustees for both districts in July. Those trustees would work together to separate the districts and work up new contracts and policies before the split goes into effect in July 2026.

“There’s just so many contracts that you have that year … to go through and make all of those decisions in a manner that allows some thought and some real research,” Holthaus said. 

Holthaus, who recently retired as superintendent from St. Maries, was hired on a one-year contract to handle the deconsolidation planning process. 

The school board held a superintendent search this spring to replace her but ultimately decided late last month not to hire any of the three finalists, Board Chair Tyler Harrington, told EdNews.

“Especially with all that we’re going to be going through over the next year,” Harrington said. “We didn’t feel that any of the three candidates were in a good position to manage that.” 

The trustees have struggled for years to keep a superintendent, in part due to the ongoing battle to pass a levy. This round of recruitment was made more difficult because the position was only for one year with no guarantee that the Mountain View superintendent would land a job at one of the new, smaller districts. 

“The job would just look different,” Harrington said. “Honestly, with our history, we don’t have much interest in coming to our district.” 

Harrington said he personally hopes to convince Holthaus to stay another year, praising her savvy and professional handling of the deconsolidation process thus far. 

“We don’t exactly know where we’re going to go from here,” he said.

Trustees plan to address the issue at their regular school board meeting Thursday evening.