Why Do We Even Have Levies?
- Sara Daugherty
- Mar 21, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 23, 2024
Why do Idaho school districts need supplemental levies to operate? Why does something that is supposed to be supplemental impact so many fundamental parts of the school? Let’s explore the Idaho Constitution and statutes over the years, and see when the big shift to supplement levies occurred.
Constitution of the State of Idaho
Idaho’s Constitution places the responsibility for the state’s public schools on the Legislature. The duty of the Legislature is to “establish and maintain a general, uniform, and thorough system of free common schools.”
Funding Idaho Public Education Through the Decades
The Mountain View School District is currently funded by the state (67%), federal sources (8%), local grants, revenue, and donations (2%); and the remaining 23% must be contributed by the local community (for more information, check out our FAQ page).
The goal of locally funded education was for communities to have local buy-in and control over the educational experience of their kids. Schools are the heart of communities. A model that includes local funding allows a community to work with the school board and choose which components of a comprehensive education they feel best fit and serve local kids. In the case of Mountain View SD244, some of these components include athletics, multiple school building locations that serve our widespread communities, and staff to teach electives like music and agriculture. Without local funding for education, these programs are not possible under the current school funding model provided by the state.
A model that includes local funding allows a community to work with the school board and choose which components of a comprehensive education they feel best fit and serve local kids.
Property taxes have provided the local contribution to public school district funding in Idaho for many decades. During the 1980s and 1990s, property taxes contributed approximately 25% of the funding needed for public schools to operate. The state’s funding formula included a property tax that was used to fund the maintenance and operations (M&O) of public schools (the equalized M&O levy).
Since the early 2000s, there have been sharp reductions in state support for public schools that have coincided with changes in the property tax component of public school financing. At this time, the property tax contribution for funding public education began to rise as the overall funding support for public schools from the state declined (see years 2003 through 2006 in the figure below).
In 2006, a special session bill, the Idaho Property Tax Relief Bill (also known as House Bill 1) removed nearly all local ability to generate property tax contributions for the maintenance and operations of school districts. This legislative effort was sold to Idahoans as a property tax relief plan. While property taxes were reduced, it eliminated the equalized M&O levy and raised Idaho’s sales tax from 5% to 6%.
The passing of House Bill 1 also meant the state took on the primary responsibility for funding maintenance and operation needs, forcing school districts to rely on state funding more than ever. As a result, state funding for public education did slightly rise, property taxes were lowered, and the amount of property taxes dedicated to public education was even lower than before 2007, dropping from 25% to about 13% (see the figure above). However, that is only the case when supplemental levies are passed by local communities. This can be seen in the graph below, the difference of just one year between 2006 and the new funding model in 2007.
The stated goal of House Bill 1 for funding public education was to shift funding from the local to the state level. The reality is that it caused inequality between school districts over time because of the inequity of tax burden on property owners. Supplemental levies became the primary way for school districts to generate local funds for education, meaning levies were no longer supplemental, but fundamentally necessary for most small rural communities to stay afloat. By 2008, 60 out of 115 Idaho school districts received funding from supplemental levies, by 2013 this increased to 70% (about 80 school districts), and more recently, 91 school districts passed supplemental levies to operate the 2022-2023 school year.
Supplemental levies became the primary way for school districts to generate local funds for education, meaning levies were no longer supplemental, but fundamentally necessary for most small rural communities to stay afloat.
The Property Tax Levy for Public Education
All 115 Idaho school districts have been given permission by the legislature to levy property taxes for various purposes, including general operations that used to be covered by the M&O state property tax.
It has been suggested that a sales tax be implemented to fund local public schools. However, by law, property tax is the only tax that can be levied for school funding (Idaho Statute Title 33, Chapter 8 (Section 33-802)). Only legislative action can change this. See the written law below:
It is plain to see that it is State law, not the local school district, that is unfairly affecting Idaho County citizens. Failing to fund local education does nothing but hurt local kids’ prospects in the short term and in the long term, cripple the local economy as working families relocate to places with better education opportunities.
The only way to make a change is through legislative action. You can make a difference by contacting local legislatures. For contact information and an example letter, see the article How to Fix Idaho's School Funding Crisis: Contact our Legislators.
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