West Ada Taxpayers Say NO to Levy

Despite the efforts of the West Ada School District, voters rejected a levy that would've raised taxes on homeowners. Like the failed effort in Nampa, voters said no to building additional buildings and other expenses.

The district proposed a levy that would allocate $50 million a year for ten years, raising property taxes on homeowners by roughly $90 per $100,000 of assessed value.

As first reported here, a West Ada video promoting the levy had to be taken down per the request of the Ada County prosecutor. Speaker of the House Representative Mike Moyle and Representative Jason Monks brought the issue to the prosecutor's attention.

Overall less than thirty thousand voters decided the levy's fate. 57.47 (16,016) voted against while 42.53% (11,853) voted for them. A vote of over 55% was needed to fund the project.

The lesson for other school districts across the state is that the recession in Idaho is actual. Schools have gone to the well too many times, and with the rising costs of fuel and inflation, taxpayers need to have the affinity to spend more in taxes.

Idaho politicians need to be more knowledgeable on how to fund Idaho's well-meaning but challenged state education system. The legislature has written blank checks to fund schools, yet teachers continue to leave, and test scores have yet to rise above the bottom of the pack nationally.
What happens next? Will the West Ada bring another levy to the voters in August when most folks are on vacation? We've seen the district resort to these measures in the past. Or will they make the right move and look at how to fund the state's largest school district effectively?