Missing the point: Nampa School District catches math mistake before putting levy to voters
Nampa schools let out as though nothing had changed, Friday. And – at least in terms of results – nothing had. But buried deep in a district document saved on an accountant’s computer, a decimal point moved one space to the right.
“As we drilled down into the formula,” Nampa School District spokeswoman Allison Westfall said, “we found an error.”
That error could have sent a levy to voters in the spring claiming to tax them 10 times fewer dollars than in reality had the levy passed before the district remedied the mistake.
“Well,” Westfall said, “it’s difficult to speculate about that. But, yes, we were glad to have found it quickly.”
Finding the error closer to the day of the vote might have created an outcry, but Friday, we couldn’t find anyone who even knew of the levy and all to whom we spoke seemed willing to forgive the error.
“You know what,” Nampa father of four Tod Andreasen said, “everybody makes mistakes. I’m not going to judge anybody for making a simple mistake.”
The youngest of Andreasen’s four children graduates from Nampa High School this spring, but he said he still planned to vote to raise his taxes.
“As long as the public’s well informed about what they’re voting on and how to help the community,” Andreasen said, “I’m all for it.”
The district hopes other voters share Andreasen’s philosophy. Other voters just hope the district provides them with the correct numbers.









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