Boise School Bond Fuels Tax Debate: Some Say District Has Critical Needs; Some Are Just Fed Up With High Taxes

By Bill Roberts, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Mar. 5–When Ben Hill moved into his Highlands-area home 16 years ago, his property taxes were $1,500 a year. Today the bill is $7,473 — nearly a 400 percent increase.

That’s all the reason Hill needs to vote against a Boise School District bond measure on March 14.

Rebecca Hampshire, who lives in Southeast Boise, doesn’t see it the same way. Taxes aside, she and others say many Boise schools are worn out and need replacement.

“I remember being in Cole and Franklin elementaries,” said Hampshire, who did an internship as a dietitian that took her into those buildings. “The whole place felt like it was going to fall apart.”

Hill and Hampshire represent the crux of the argument over what should happen to Boise school buildings when voters decide a bond that would renovate, rebuild or consolidate more than a dozen aging schools.

Will voters see the need to fix up schools? Or will beleaguered property taxpayers say they’ve had their fill and vote the bond down — even if that doesn’t ease their increasing property values and tax burden?

Hill is not persuaded by the district trying to assure taxpayers that approving their bond won’t raise property tax rates. A lot of his tax increase didn’t happen because government raised the rate, Hill says. His property taxes went up also because his property value shot up 224 percent in 16 years. “It’s sort of a hollow promise,” he said.

In the past, Hill has voted for school bonds and the 2001 Foothills levy. But not this time. “Now it’s gotten to the point I can’t take it any more.”

Hampshire, who lives in Southeast Boise and has a daughter who will start kindergarten next year, said the schools need improvement. “I was surprised that something hadn’t been done before.”

We talked with people throughout the Boise School District about the bond. Some have kids in schools. Others don’t. Some will benefit directly by seeing new schools in their neighborhoods. Others will not. Here is what they had to say:

Tricia Midgley, Southeast Boise Trail Wind Elementary parent

Boise district voters supported a bond in 1996 that built the school that Midgley’s first-grade twin daughters attend. Trail Wind has a large library, unlike many of the schools up for rebuilding under the bond. The Trail Wind classrooms tend to be larger than many older elementary school classrooms. The school has a learning center that helps both accelerated and struggling students, she said.

“We have all this stuff,” she said. “We have plenty.”

If the School District passes the bond, she said, other schools will get what her daughters already enjoy.

“I am voting for the bond,” she said. “It’s an excellent idea. It should have been done a long time ago.”

Pete Radice, North End Washington Elementary parent

Radice was an early critic of the school district when it sought to begin a discussion in January 2005 on closing schools , which could have included Washington Elementary in his neighborhood. He eventually joined a district-sponsored citizens committee studying and recommending bond proposals.

Radice won’t say how he’ll vote on the school bond. He credits school officials with “trying to come up with a plan to move forward instead of just staying still.” And he likes the partnership the district has forged with Boise to create community centers at new elementary schools that would be built near Borah High and Fairmont Junior High School.

But he’s worried about the district’s decision to sell school property to help pay for its building plan. The district proposes selling property such as West Junior High and Franklin Elementary to raise some of the $116 million it needs under the plan.

“Land is the biggest asset of the district,” Radice said. “I am concerned they get top dollar for that land before they sell it.”

Stan Olson, district superintendent, expects to form committees including city officials and neighborhood residents to look at what will happen to land identified for sale.

Harlan Mann, Northwest Boise

Granddaughter in Boise schools

Mann has seen his property taxes increase modestly over the years. But it’s not enough to drive him to the polls for a vote against the bond. “I don’t follow that philosophy at all,” Mann said. “A school program reflects the community. The more we can tout our school system, the better off we are.”

He’ll vote for the bond. “My wife will, too,” he said. “It’s not a hard sell.”

SLOAN FRAKES, BOISE BENCH Boise schools parent

Boise School District proposes to put $60 million into the school building on the Bench near where Frakes lives. She thinks that will help strengthen her neighborhood.

“People are moving out to the newer neighborhoods with new schools because they think they are getting a better education,” Frakes said. Building schools on the Bench could “keep this area from declining.”

If the bond passes, Frakes’ five daughters, who attend West Junior High and McKinley Elementary, would likely be affected. Some of her daughters could be attending a new West behind the district’s central office on Victory Road. Others could be at Borah High, scheduled for $12 million in improvements. Those dollars will give her kids a better place to learn and help strengthen the neighborhood in which she lives, Frakes said.

Ben Hill, Highlands

No children in public school

The bond has other flaws besides his property tax concerns, Hill said. One example he cites: the district’s proposal to put a new gym at North Junior High, where his daughter went to school. School officials say they need the second gym to expand athletic opportunities for kids who must now practice in the mornings before school because the school lacks a second gym.

“A new gym at North would have no impact on my child’s education,” he said. “Zero. Why am I voting for a bond for that?”

Instead, the district should look at ways to expand athletic offerings by partnering with local businesses in areas such as skiing or mountain biking, he said.

Hill does not buy the argument that old schools necessarily need to be replaced. “I went to school back East in one of the top prep schools in the country,” he said. “They touted their beautiful old buildings. I think there is no reason you can’t teach school in an old building.”

the pro and the con of the Boise school bond election

Some residents see the need for new schools, others say no to raising property taxes

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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