BLACKFOOT — Superintendent Mark Gabrylczyk is working to give Snake River School District students more opportunities in the future, but at the same time he’s asking patrons to help him maintain the programs that they already have.

That’s what Gabrylczyk told Bingham County commissioners on Wednesday during an hour-long meeting on the district’s plans for the future and its upcoming supplemental levy election.

Gabrylczyk said the district has lost $1,144,467 in state funding in recent years and has been using federal funds and plant facility money to help cover its costs; however, it won’t be able to continue using those funds in the future. That’s why officials have decided to ask the public next month for a $900,000 supplemental levy for two years.

“This is to keep us going and to keep existing programs,” he said, adding the money would be used to maintain programs and cover increases in expenses. “This is not going for teachers’ salaries.”

Gabrylczyk said the levy, if approved, would increase taxes on a $100,000 property by $11.25 a month.

He told commissioners on Wednesday that the district currently receives only 31 cents per child in property tax funding, but the average for districts across the state is $862.82 per child. The significant divide is partly due to the fact that Snake River has never had a supplemental levy, Gabrylczyk said, adding that the additional funding would help bridge some of that gap.

Although the district is seeking the levy to simply maintain existing programs, Gabrylczyk said he is also working hard to give Snake River students more educational and career opportunities at little or no-cost to the district.

“There is a lot of opportunity here,” he said. “I don’t think there is another school district in Idaho that has as many companies as we have in a five-mile radius, doing business globally.”

Gabrylczyk said he’s spoken with some of those companies which have expressed frustrations about the difficulty in finding local employees qualified for the jobs they offer. And he wants to do something about that by providing students with more opportunities to learn about manufacturing, agricultural and health care jobs available in this area.

“As a school system, we have to change,” he said, adding that he’s looking for low-cost ways to do that. And many are willing to help him out.

For instance an Idaho State University instructor is willing to include Snake River students in his AutoCad class if the district can come up with the technology it needs. Gabrylczyk is hoping to find grant money to use for that.

He also has hopes of starting a summer agricultural program to teach students about farming using district property, if he can get the necessary approvals, and possibly a dental assistant program.

Gabrylczyk said local businesses are also willing to help students pay for dual-enrollment credits. And Bingham County commissioners said Wednesday that they also have funds available for that.

Commissioner Ladd Carter said the county received $59,396 for fiscal year 2012 to help local students pay for dual enrollment-credits. He encouraged Gabrylczyk to have Snake River students apply for the funds just as students from other districts have.

“I don’t think there is anywhere we could spend that money wiser (than in education),” he said.

Gabrylczyk said he is also planning to start a Pathways to Scholarship program for students in seventh through 12th grades, which will teach them how to get scholarships and help them build an electronic portfolio to use in the process. He said an official with the program is planning to travel to the area to help train teachers and has offered to donate $26,000 in materials to the district.

Gabrylczyk said he appreciates the community’s support of education, and hopes patrons will pass the levy to help the district in its efforts to give students as many opportunities as possible.

“There are great programs out there and people are putting in their own time and money to make them go,” he said. “We want to reinvest in those programs (and others).”