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GVSD
LEVY INFO

The Garden Valley School District is
requesting that voters approve a

$400,000.00
levy on May 21, 2024.

To aid the voters in making an informed decision, the legislature passed a law in 2022 (HB 653) that states the ballot shall include a detailed description of the purposes for which the levy revenues will be used and the approximate amount of levy funds.

The GVSD provided the following details:
The levy shall be used for the maintenance and operations of the District as follows:
Salaries and Benefits: $270,000.00
Extra-Curricular: $40,000.00
Technology: $10,000.00
Full Day Kindergarten:  $20,000.00
Classroom Support: $20,000.00
Transportation: $20,000.00
Special Education $20,000.00

What does our Superintendent have to say about putting salaries in Bonds and Levies?

"I never believe in associating any salaries with levies or bond money period"

by Superintendent Pat Goff 1/24/24

Are You Satisfied With The Details Provided By The District?
Do you still have questions?

Are you are asking yourself any questions such as:

Salaries and Benefits:  $270,000.00
What positions will the salaries and benefits fund?
Will this money be used to increase current salaries or is this for new hire positions?
Are you wanting us to pass something that you “never believe in”?

Extra-Curricular:  $40,000.00
What activities are these?
Should  the taxpayers be funding those activates that are claimed to be funded by donations?
Are we ignoring the basic educational needs and siphoning money to fund extra-curricular activities?

Technology:  $10,000.00
What kind of technology is this?

Are the taxpayers buying Chromebooks for all the students again?

Full Day Kindergarten: $20,000.00
There are only 6 children enrolled in kindergarten.
The school is already providing full day kindergarten.
The school claims that the state only pays for 1/2 day kindergarten.  If the state is only paying for 1/2  day kindergarten then why did the district start a full day program knowing that is was underfunded.

Governor Brad Little signed house bill 790 into law at the end of the 2022 legislative session. The law expands the state’s annual literacy budget from $26.1 million up to $72.7 million to fund this program.  Which is why many schools decided to implement full day kindergarten.

Is the kindergarten program still only funded for 1/2 day even after the bill was signed?
What is the benefit to operating a program this is not properly funded?
Are transportation issues impacting this decision?
Is this a baby-sitting program?
Why is this on the list?
Is it because someone thinks the state is passing out free money;  just not enough money so that the taxpayers need to pay more?

Classroom Support: $20,000.00
What is classroom support and how is this different from the monies already budgeted for classroom support under several categories like “Supplies”?

Transportation:  $20,000.00
Is this the amount that is needed to makeup the reported shortfall from the state to transport students to school or is this the amount needed to transport students to extra-curricular activities that have been reported to be funded by donations and not by the M&O fund?

Special Education:  $20,000.00
This is the category that raises the flag on how these numbers were determined.
Considering the recent events regarding the SpED program and the past claims that the SpED programs costs $600,000.00 a year while the state only funds $300,000.00, how will $20,000.00 fix the issue?

The $400,000.00 amount was determined outside of any current FY25 budget preparation process and was a number picked based on “historical data”.
This can be paraphrased to
“Because we always ask the community to approve the levy.”

The Idaho constitution mandates the Legislature, not the local community, “establish and maintain a general, uniform, and thorough system of public, free common schools”.

The school district reports spending over $62,000.00 for coaches salaries this year as compared to $17,000.00 last year.
Supporting Documentation Here
Education or Sports: What is the priority?
There is no money tree!

How Does GVSD Compare?

Where does the money go?

What are the salaries/benefits?

How many students are there?

Transportation –
What does it cost?

Is the baseball diamond really funded by donations?

Yes it is true that the district cried “poor poor poor might have to lock the door” knowing they had sprinkled
one million dollars
$1,000,000.00
throughout the budget.

Why are we funding social services programs with education dollars?

What are your thoughts?