Idaho school districts will ask voters for more than $307 million this November election. But none of that is for bonds.
Still, the requests nearly double the $159 million on the ballot last fall — and the $183 million from May.
That’s due, in part, to consolidated elections dating back to the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions. School districts can now only ask voters for additional funding from property taxes in May and November.
EdNews reached out to county election offices statewide to compile a list of measures.
The estimated tax burdens on sample ballots do not take into account property tax relief passed by the Legislature in 2024. Those funds must first be applied to bonds, then plant-facility levies and supplemental levies. If a district does not have a tax measure on the books, the funds go into an account for facility projects. The amount of property tax relief districts receive varies from year to year.
Learn more on the basics of bonds and levies here.
If your school district’s ballot measure is missing from this list email emma@idahoednews.org.
Bonds
No districts will seek a bond this November. Idaho is one of two states that require a supermajority of 66.7% of voter support for a bond to pass. A bond has not passed in Idaho since May 2024.
November has also long been the least popular time to run a school bond. A bond hasn’t passed in a November election in Idaho since 2017, when the Teton School District passed two.
No bonds appeared on the November 2021 and 2022 ballots, but there has been at least one bond on the ballot every November since.
Plant-facility levies
Five districts are seeking plant-facility levies — adding up to more than $98 million — for school facility maintenance and updates. These levies most commonly need 55% of the votes in favor to pass.
Here they are alphabetically by district:
Highland
Measure: $375,000, five-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would pay for building maintenance, including replacing boilers and upgrading facilities to eliminate safety concerns.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $31.74 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $10.58 from the expiring plant facility levy. The levy needs 55% of voters in support to pass. See a sample ballot here.
Moscow
Measure: A $65.6 million, seven-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely fund converting Moscow Middle School into a high school over the course of about seven years. Funds would also go to replacing the HVAC system at Lena Whitmore Elementary and renovating the former Russell school building to house the alternative high school and district offices.
Read more about the project here.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $280 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. The levy needs 60% of voters in support to pass. See sample ballot here.
Valley
Measure: A $1.5 million, five-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy will fund repairs and remodels to school facilities.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $74.81 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, a decrease of $26.61 from the expiring plant facility levy. It needs 55% of voters in support to pass. See sample ballot here.
Vallivue
Measure: A $30 million, ten-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would pay for building updates and maintenance.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $24 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. It needs 55% of voters in support to pass. See sample ballot here.
Weiser
Measure: A $1.4 million, four-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy replaces an expiring plant facility levy that covers building maintenance.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $35 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $4 from the expiring levy. The levy needs 55% of voters in support to pass. See sample ballot here.
Supplemental levies
Thirty districts are seeking supplemental levies, totaling about $208 million. The levies largely pay for staff salaries and benefits on top of state allocations. Levies also commonly cover extracurricular activities. They require a simple majority, or 50%, to pass.
The levies are listed alphabetically below.
American Falls
Measure: A $5.9 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $2.68 million per year. The rest would cover classroom supplies and curriculum, technology and school resource officers.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $192 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $13 from the district’s expiring supplemental levy. See sample ballot here.
Boundary County
Measure: A $4.8 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The majority of the levy would pay to maintain current teacher and other staff levels at $1.4 million per year. The rest of the funds would cover safety, security, maintenance, extracurricular activities, field trips, curricular materials, technology, and a new school bus.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $93 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Buhl
Measure: A $2.5 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $750,000 per year. The rest would cover transportation, curriculum and supplies.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $107.03 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Camas County
Measure: A $450,000, two-year levy and a $150,000, two-year levy
What’s at stake? The larger levy would pay for staff salaries and supplies and materials. The smaller levy would pay for the district’s music program.
Impact: The larger levy would cost taxpayers $70 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as an expiring levy. The smaller levy would cost taxpayers $23 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as an expiring levy. See sample ballots here for the larger levy and the smaller levy.
Challis
Measure: A $1.6 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for classified staff salaries at $286,200 per year. The rest would cover classroom supplies, extracurricular activities, transportation, and other staff salaries.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $81.73 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $6.94 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Clearwater Valley
Measure: An $811,989, one-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at nearly $300,000. The rest would cover special education services, extracurricular activities, curriculum, full day kindergarten and operating expenses.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $115 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Coeur d’Alene
Measure: A $60.5 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay teacher and support staff salaries and benefits at $12 million per year. Career technical education, advanced placement and other academic programs are budgeted at $7 million per year.
The rest of the funds would go to school safety and health programs, extracurricular activities, technology, classroom learning resources, and operating expenses like maintenance and transportation.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $110 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $19 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Fremont County
Measure: A $3 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely cover staff salaries and benefits at $495,000 per year; another $430,000 annually would go to extracurricular activities. The rest of the funds would pay for curriculum, technology, musical instruments, and school resource officers.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $32.95 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Genesee
Measure: A $1.2 million, one-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $589,000. The rest would cover special education, maintenance, transportation, technology, and extracurricular activities.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $367.88 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Gooding
Measure: A $1.8 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: Most of the levy would cover staff salaries and benefits at $614,000 per year. The rest would cover school safety and security, curriculum, classroom supplies, technology, maintenance and transportation.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $93 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Grace
Measure: A $900,000, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy largely pays for staff salaries and benefits at about $175,000 per year. The rest covers maintenance, transportation, curriculum, technology and food services.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $131.90 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, a decrease of $14.65 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Hansen
Measure: A $580,000, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for special services support at $90,000 per year and staff salaries and benefits at $77,000 per year. The rest of the funds would pay for extracurricular services, classroom materials and preschool.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $121.57 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $3.35 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Idaho Falls
Measure: A $22 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy largely pays for staff salaries and benefits at $8.4 million per year. Extracurricular activities take up another $1.1 million per year. The rest covers safety and security programs and maintenance expenses.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $124 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Jerome
Measure: A $3.5 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely cover staff salaries and benefits at $1.3 million per year. The rest would cover transportation not reimbursed by the state and program and software licenses.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $60 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Kootenai
Measure: A $3.97 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would mostly pay staff salaries and benefits with $978,275 allocated each year. It would also cover special education services ($374,395) and building maintenance ($217,000). The rest of the funds would go to athletics, career technical education, school security and a school resource officer.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $111 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $34 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Kuna
Measure: A $7.2 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would cover salaries and benefits for teachers, coaches and school resource officers.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $53.64 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Marsh Valley
Measure: A $2 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for curriculum at $350,000 per year. The rest would cover special education services, literacy intervention, career technical education programs and extracurricular activities.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $42.10 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Meadows Valley
Measure: A $887,600, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $340,800 per year. The rest covers curriculum, supplies, technology, school safety and athletic programs.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $54.81 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Middleton
Measure : A $3 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay staff salaries and benefits at $510,000 per year. The rest would cover curriculum adoption ($450,000) along with school security, transportation, and technology.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $30 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Payette
Measure: A $3 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy in the first year would fund a gym and locker room renovation at $1.5 million. The second year it would fund new stadium lights, add a security vestibule at the primary school, and replace playground equipment, among other projects.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $121 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Plummer-Worley
Measure: A $1.78 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits to maintain class sizes and existing programs at $521,864 per year. Another $158,496 would cover athletics and team transportation. The levy also covers student technology, engineering for a high school gym project and new carpet, desks and tile.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $41.69 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Pocatello-Chubbuck
Measure: A $16.5 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $4.3 million per year. Custodial services account for another $1.3 million, along with curriculum, supplies and other instructional materials at $1.1 million per year. The rest of the funds pay for school safety, student activities and transportation, and technology.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $95.63 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
Post Falls
Measure: A $13.57 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: Maintaining safety, security, counseling, and nursing services at $1.7 million per year is the largest levy line item. Renewing extracurricular funding at $1.2 million and continuing to cover staff salaries and benefits take up another $1 million per year. Another $1 million is allocated for student behavioral support staff. The levy also covers access to the Kootenai Technical Education Campus, K-3 literacy support staff and two new school buses.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $64.90 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an approximate increase of $3.55 from the existing levy. See sample ballot here.
Soda Springs
Measure: A $993,000, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would mostly pay for staff salaries and benefits at $948,000 per year. The remaining funds would pay for a school resource officer.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $60.37 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. See sample ballot here.
St. Maries
Measure: A $5 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy covers student support staff like school resource officers, bus drivers and librarians at $567,700 per year. It also pays for extracurricular activities at $552,000 per year and UpRiver School at $522,500 per year. The rest covers career technical education, elective courses, and the district’s preschool program.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $159 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $38 from the expiring levy. See sample ballot here.
Teton
Measure: A $14.2 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $6.8 million per year. The rest would cover curriculum and district initiatives and programs.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $103 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, an increase of $31 from the expiring supplemental levy. See sample ballot here.
Twin Falls
Measure: A $14.4 million, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would largely pay for staff salaries and benefits at $4.4 million per year. Another big-ticket item is safety and security at $1.5 million per year. The rest would cover extracurricular activities and maintenance staff.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $86 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as the expiring supplemental levy. See sample ballot here.
West Jefferson
Measure: A $720,000, two-year levy
What’s at stake: The levy would solely pay for staff salaries and benefits.
Impact: The levy would cost taxpayers $100.73 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, the same as the expiring supplemental levy. See sample ballot here.
Ed News Data Analyst Randy Schrader contributed to this story.
