yranaivo@journalnet.com

BOISE - Mary Vagner remains unconvinced that hosting a bond or supplemental levy election on the same date as public office elections will do School District 25 any good.

"We would be the last little ballot asking for bond or levy money," the school district's superintendent said. "These attitudes will be mixed with campaign stuff and could interfere with our elections."

District 25 has frequently reasserted its stance against the proposal, but an East Idaho lawmaker believes the much larger voter turnout from the May and November election days will give school districts an upper hand in their special elections.

"Some of these (bond and supplemental levy) elections are what the secretary of state refers to as stealth elections," said Rep. Dennis Lake, a Blackfoot Republican who is proposing a bill that would consolidate school district and public office elections. "They try to conduct these elections when the least number of people are going to know about it. In a democracy, we want most of the people to vote."

Lake's bill cleared the House recently and it is now up for discussion in the Senate's state affairs committee. In addition to the May and November election days, the bill also allows school districts to host their special elections on the third Tuesday of March and August.

Defending his legislation, Lake said designating dates for those elections allows the public to be better informed about school district issues.

"It answers questions that every voter has open their mind," he said. "Questions, such as 'What is the election about? Where can we vote? And when can we vote?'"

Lake noted School District 25's recently failed attempt at increasing its supplemental tax levy, adding that several other school districts were similarly unsuccessful.

"I don't know what the voting percentage was (for School District 25). There were quite a few people who voted on that," Lake said, "but we've had elections throughout the rest of the state where less than 5 percent of the people voted. And they make the decisions for everybody in that taxing district."

While Vagner supports hosting an election in March, she was skeptical about getting positive results in either May, August or November.

Adding to her argument that taxpayers don't want to hear about tax increases on election days, she also said that few residents pay attention to school issues in August.

"We're not even around (in August)," she said. "What parent group is going run a public campaign about (a bond or supplemental levy election in August)?"