SHOSHONE, Idaho — On May 19, voters in Shoshone will decide whether to approve a two-year, $300,000 school district levy.
The proposed measure requires a simple majority to pass and matches the exact amount of the current levy, which expires on June 30.
WATCH: Shoshone voters will decide on May 19 whether to approve a two-year, $300,000 school district levy that maintains current tax rates for residents.
If approved, taxpayers will see no change to their current rates, which sit at $74.54 per $100,000 of assessed property value. The funding has been in place for over 20 years, with voters consistently supporting the recurring measure.
Shoshone Superintendent of Schools Rob Waite said the district tries to keep the request at a bare minimum out of respect for taxpayers.
"It's not a new levy, it's not new funding, it's just a continuation of the funding that has been in place for over 20 years," Waite said.
The $300,000 per year helps support a wide array of activities and supplies for the district. It also covers the school's ability to run all-day kindergarten and maintain a four-day school week.
"One of our school goals is to have student contact time— this levy will help support us to make sure that we can continue the all-day kindergarten. The second part is a program we’ve had for a several years called our extended day program," explained Waite.
The extended day program gives the school an extra 30 minutes a day built into the year, helping cover state-required student and teacher contact time.
"We believe students do better when they have more contact time with their teachers," Waite said.
Shoshone resident Marilynn Tappia supports the measure, noting that anything the community can do for the students is a positive step.
"The kids here do deserve to have a really good school district, they have a lot of awesome programs that they could be implementing— so, I think it's a good idea," Tappia said.
"It's been a kind of tradition in this school district not to increase the amount of money in the ask," said Waite. "We have respect for the taxpayers and we don't want to ask for more— we try to keep it at the bare minimum to provide these sorts of things in the levy."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
