The Nampa School District office is pictured here in this 2022 file photo. The school district presented data on bullying incidents at a Monday meeting.
The Nampa School District office is pictured here in this 2022 file photo. The school district presented data on bullying incidents at a Monday meeting.
Kuna and Nampa voters on Tuesday rejected bonds that would have paid for school construction and improvements.
The Kuna School District’s $111.4 million bond failed to pass, with approximately 56% of voters casting ballots in favor and 43.7% opposed. In Idaho, school bonds require a supermajority of 66.7% in favor to pass.
In Nampa, 60.1% of respondents voted against the bond, while 39.9% voted in favor, according to unofficial election results.
Nampa School District Superintendent Gregg Russell posted a short video on the school’s Facebook page Wednesday morning, thanking people for coming out to the polls and reflecting on the results.
“Clearly, we heard from our community that right now is not the time for a bond,” Russell said. “We will continue to move forward. Our mission is to always ensure high levels of achievement for our students, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”
Gregg Russell
NSD131
Nampa School Board Chair Brook Taylor said, “I echo Dr. Russell’s comments,” via text message Wednesday.
The Nampa bond included funding for rebuilds of Nampa High School and Centennial Elementary School, which district officials said were needed to provide better quality learning environments and to alleviate safety concerns. The bond would have also funded projects such as a new auditorium at Skyview High School and upgrades to athletic facilities.
The district’s next step will be to meet with trustees to discuss further options, Russell said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon.
“For the near future, we will continue to utilize our lottery funds to address our highest priority needs and follow our facilities maintenance plan to the extent possible with current funds,” Russell said.
For Kuna, the push to make Swan Falls High School a fully-fledged school independent of Kuna High School will not come to fruition.
Additionally, the district won’t get a new elementary school. Expansion and renovation projects at Fremont and Kuna middle schools will be tabled for the foreseeable future. Ten of the district’s 11 schools are currently at, over or near capacity, as previously reported by the Idaho Press.
Kuna’s bond saw higher-than-normal turnout from absentee and early voting in Ada County, according to Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple.
The possibility of the bond failing was something that concerned KSD Superintendent Wendy Johnson for the past several months, especially with the Vallivue and Middleton school districts’ bonds failing last year.
“It’s hard to get a supermajority because it takes so much time and effort to get people to understand why. Why we need what we need. And we have a diverse community,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Wednesday morning that she was “disappointed” but that the district’s job is now finding out why community members voted against the bond. Because of this, and because of deadline constraints, KSD will not try to refloat the bond in the May election.
“I don’t know when we would go back to the patrons because I think we need to understand why it didn’t pass — and what that means for any future bonds — before we go back out and just put it in front of the voters again,” Johnson said.
The superintendent is confident that the plan KSD came up with and collaborated with the community on is the solution it needs for the growth and overcrowding it is experiencing. She also expressed appreciation for all who helped in the process.
“I’m really proud of the various community groups that were involved that participated in helping us get the word out, participating in learning, and also helping us design the solutions for our growing community.” Johnson said. “And we had a ton of people in this community engaged. So I’m really grateful to their work and their dedication to helping us.”
The Kuna School District held 42 information meetings and presentations about the bond leading up to the election.
Sydney Kidd covers Kuna, Melba and Meridian for the Idaho Press. She is the supervising editor of the Kuna Melba News and Meridian Press. Send her an email at skidd@idahopress.com and follow her on Twitter @Syd__Kidd.
Sydney Kidd oversees and reports for the Kuna Melba News and Meridian Press weeklies, in addition to her reporting and editing duties for the Idaho Press. She is a graduate of Utah State University and holds a degree in journalism. Previously, Kidd completed internships with Boise Weekly and Deseret News. A true Boise girl, she is happy to be working for a newspaper that serves the area she grew up in. In her free time, Kidd enjoys water and snow sports, discovering new food joints with her husband and occasionally running away to the ocean.
