by Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman

This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Idaho Statesman. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.

Last year, Idaho legislators approved a 10-year, $2 billion funding bill to help school districts throughout the state whose buildings were crumbling and sometimes dangerous.

But early reports from districts and a new state cost estimate show that even after passage of the historic funding bill, districts are still struggling to meet their most dire needs. That has put local school officials in the same position they have long faced: asking voters to approve additional funds.

School districts in Idaho rely heavily on taxpayers to approve local bonds to pay for school construction and repair. The state’s unusual policy, however, requires two-thirds of voters for a bond to pass, a threshold many superintendents say is nearly impossible to reach. Most states require less.

The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica reported in 2023 how the bond requirement, combined with the Legislature’s reluctance to invest in school facilities, has forced students to attend schools with faulty heating systems, leaking roofs and broken plumbing. Idaho has long ranked last or near last among states in education spending per pupil.

Much of the new money from the funding bill is being distributed based on the number of students attending school in each district — a big problem for smaller and more rural schools. An analysis by ProPublica and the Idaho Statesman shows that most of the state’s school districts will get less money than it would take to build a new school. Around 40% of the districts will receive $2 million or less, which some administrators said wouldn’t be enough to cover their biggest repairs.

District officials in Boundary County, wedged along the Canadian border with a population of just over 13,000, were grateful to receive about $5 million from the new funding bill.

Voters there in 2022 twice voted down a $16 million bond to replace an elementary school with failing plumbing, frigid classrooms and a roof that drips into buckets secured to the ceilings. One of those times, 54% of voters supported it, but that wasn’t enough to surpass the state’s required two-thirds majority.

After the state kicked in about $5 million from the new funding bill, the district in November asked voters to approve the remaining $10.5 million to build the elementary school. But the lower cost was not enough to convince residents to approve the bond.

An analysis of data from the Idaho Department of Education provided to ProPublica and the Statesman shows that the problems in Boundary County may be widespread. As of Feb. 3, all but one district had submitted the paperwork needed to receive the funds. But the demand far outstripped the supply. It would take more than $8 billion over 10 years to fix and maintain every Idaho school, according........

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