SALMON ( ) — Parents, grandparents and neighbors in this small mountain community were confident in the days leading up to last month’s school bond election. This would be the year Salmon finally got a new school, they predicted. Their certainty was surprising because voters had their local school district’s previous 12 requests to pay for a new building by increasing property taxes.
And the stakes hadn’t changed since the last request failed with 59% support, eight points short of Idaho’s required supermajority threshold for elections. But this election was different. Salmon still needed about $29 million to replace its Pioneer Elementary.
However, school district leaders — the superintendent and board of trustees — weren’t asking for the money this time, after their relationship with skeptical voters had grown strained during previous bond campaigns. Instead, district parents and grandparents — even Salmon residents with no connection to the district other than an address — took the lead. A volunteer group, the Salmon School Needs Assessment Committee, worked for about 15 hours a week over 18 months to find out what it would take for voters to support a new school.
The committee came up with a unique financing plan, which calls for a $20 million bond, the method used by most Idaho school districts to finance high-cost projects. But the plan also includes donated building materials and sponsorships — $10,000 gets your name on a classroom, for instance. .