District 91 school bond for $250 million fails to pass
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IDAHO FALLS — A $250 million school bond that was meant for a new high school, two new elementary schools and a renovation of Skyline High School failed to pass on the ballot during the November general election.
It’s the largest bond Idaho Falls School District 91 has ever asked the public to approve, and 58% of voters said yes, while 42% of voters said no.
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Bond issues in Idaho require two-thirds support from voters to pass.
“We are disappointed, of course, with the results, but we have respect for the voting process,” said Jim Shank, D91 superintendent. “We are just grateful for those who supported the process all along.”
Shank said the next step for the district would include looking at options and analyzing the facilities they have. He says they need to address the growth in the community.
“We will certainly be asking the community what is the approach they would prefer,” Shank said.
D91 proposed two other bonds in the past, including one for $110 million in 2017. The bond would have paid for the construction of a new high school and the redesign of Skyline High School.
The other bond was in 2018 for $99.5 million. That bond would have paid for a new Idaho Falls High School, extensive upgrades to Skyline High School and a project to transform the existing Idaho Falls High School into a career-technical school.
Both bonds failed to pass as well.
Lisa Keller, a spokeswoman for a group called D91 Taxpayers, opposed the bond.
“This is the third time that the voters have said that they want a more economical solution to the problem facing our schools. We appreciate the fact that the schools need something. We understand that, but the people have spoken three times now and said the school district needs to bring us something more affordable,” Keller said.
She said she is grateful for the community that has stood up against an unaffordable tax and did the right thing by rejecting the bond.
“Now, we just call on the school board to finally come up with something that is more responsible and to take care of our schools. We’d love to see them really dig in and take care of the problem that we are seeing in our schools and come up with some solutions that are not going to hurt those on a fixed income and those that are living paycheck to paycheck who are barely scraping by,” Keller added.
Erin Bingham ran the Vote Yes for D91 School Bond campaign online and is disappointed the bond did not pass but provided a statement to EastIdahoNews.com thanking the community.
“Thank you for lending your time, money and voices to supporting the D91 bond. You have shown that education in our community is important to you. Educated voters make educated decisions. Our community made the educated decision. It’s unfortunate that the legislation favors the minority rather than the majority. When the majority loses, we have a problem. We will continue to fight for our kids locally, and we will hold our local legislators accountable to fight for them in Boise,” Bingham said.
In an email on Oct. 18 to parents and staff, Shank said the Board of Trustees had been starting to consider ways to address safety, security and overcrowding if the proposed bond failed on Nov. 8. Some of the ideas that were being discussed included year-round schools or split sessions.
Shank said the board would continue to discuss solutions. No decisions have been made yet.