Education and community leaders gather to talk on Idaho’s future financial needs

Maintaining aging school facilities while keeping pace with growth is no easy task.

On the surface, things may look good. But internally there is a huge financial cost associated with helping maintain critical infrastructure that many may not see from the outside looking in.

“We put a new roof on a facility and it’s probably about a million-and-a-half dollars,” said Derek Bub, superintendent of West Ada School District. “No one ever calls me and says, ‘The roof on Centennial High School looks so beautiful.’ It just doesn’t happen.”

Bub used the rooftop example to illustrate one of the many issues districts face in keeping pace with infrastructure challenges. His comments came during the recent Investing in Idaho’s Infrastructure & Future Conference held at the White Cloud Auditorium on the West Ada District campus Oct. 2.

Hosted by Zions Bank, the one-day event was designed to bring together school district leaders, city and county officials, state legislators and community business partners to help stir up conversations about the best methods for dealing with current and future infrastructure issues including education, transportation and utilities.

“We believe in our communities and believe infrastructure is the backbone of our communities,” said Michael Keith, vice president of Zions Public Finance Division. “This building we are in today is a perfect example of what a solid investment can look like.”

Leading the state’s single largest school district that serves roughly 40,000 students, Bub referred to the issues surrounding school-related infrastructure and the need to invest wisely as “continuing struggles” for districts, such as the severe impact a broken waterpipe can have on the educational process.

“Our problems are no different than anybody else,” he said. “Getting people together to talk through key facilities issues, like we are today, is a key component.”

Another key component is a district’s ability to “creatively utilize space,” as West Ada does with the White Cloud Auditorium.

“West Ada purchased this space many years ago, creating space for our district office, for one of our schools, and even a CTE, or Career Technical Education center attached to it,” Bub said. “We’ve had to get really creative for how we create facilities.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield used her lengthy career in the education business to help steer part of the day’s conversation on investing in infrastructure in a slightly different manner.

She shared a variety of short stories to highlight how investments can be made to not only benefit student learning but to enhance communities and their local economies.

For example, she reflected on how she approached state lawmakers a couple of years ago and asked for $65 million to help fund the Idaho Career Ready Students program, designed to help prepare students to meet industry and workforce needs.

“I asked for $65 million to invest in programs that directly support into pathways for regional and local business opportunities,” Critchfield said. “It’s not a one-size fits all. There are certain occupational needs statewide, but there are also industries that are regional.

“These dollars, the $65 million, in my opinion, are going to provide exponential dividends to our state as we see the investments our communities are now making to help make our kids successful.”

She emphasized creativity and thinking outside the box to enhance investing in promoting the development of skills that can expose students to career opportunities right in their own backyards. She spoke fondly of the value of creating and maintaining a variety of CTE programs.

Referencing the tiny community of McCall, she relayed the story of how road issues there impacted by snow can easily prevent buses from delivering students to schools.

Compounding the uncontrollable weather issues, a local company did not have enough qualified drivers with a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to consistently clear roads. “A clever and smart principal found a teacher he trusted and started a CDL program at the school,” she said.

The high school in McCall now enrolls more than 30 students in the CDL program. She proudly described one student who successfully completed the program.

“At the end of the first year, a particular student who had been struggling graduated and tested for the CDL and obtained it,” she said. “The student then sent a text of the employment contract he signed with the trucking company for $88,000 a year. Which might have been more than the teacher was making.”

This example, she cited, is just one of many where a “school becomes the facilitator” of the prep work or training and knowledge of what is reflective of what is happening in their own community.

At a high school in Twin Falls, Critchfield described an instructor, whose welding school shop is “barely at code” and with just enough equipment to get 80 students through the program annually. However, the wait list for the program tallies 100-plus students.

Teaming up with an investment from Chobani, one of Idaho’s largest manufacturers and a company in desperate need of welders, helped solve that problem.

“We need to ask how education can fill that gap so that students who are interested in such opportunities don’t have to leave their own backyards to purse them,” Critchfield said.

Citing recent statistics, Critchfield pointed out the need to engage local business partners, being that Idaho ranks as one of the five top states for students enrolled in CTE courses. Idaho is also the national leader for CTE students obtaining dual enrollment credits.

“It’s why we are here today. West Ada is just one district that is passionate about education and values the importance of infrastructure in our community,” Keith said. “It’s becoming a more pressing issue, and our hope is to get conversations going about finding solutions.”

And while the “T” word, or taxes, gets thrown around regularly when it comes to funding infrastructure issues, taxation is not always the solution, nor do taxes always generate the revenue most people assume they do.

Known for his collaborative leadership style and strategic vision, Bub, in overseeing the state’s most populous district, detailed how the tax rate for homeowners within the boundaries of the West Ada School District is $1.47 per $100,000 of assessed property value.

“In terms of a home being worth $1 million, because every home now seems to be worth that, you would pay $14.70 a year in taxes in West Ada,” Bub said. “That may work this year, but what does that look like in three years when buildings are falling apart further, or five or even 10 years?”

While grateful to Idaho legislators who have stepped up when it comes to financial support, he knows state funding can only go so far. “We need to start thinking eight to 10 years down the road. It will only get us so far. We need to consider what infrastructure will look like then.”

And with Idaho’s secret out for being one of the nation’s great places to live, solutions now and for the future remain imminent.

Robert Spendlove, a senior economist for Zions Bank, shared with attendees how the Gem State now ranks at the top nationally in both population growth and employment growth.

“Idaho is leading the nation in these two categories, a good sign of a strong economy,” Spendlove said. “Plus, our unemployment rate of 3.7% is also lower than the national average of 4.3%. We’re right at that sweet spot.”

“The secret is out and now everybody wants to live here,” Keith said. “But now we have to figure out how to pay for the infrastructure.”

Critchfield firmly believes she has some of the answers. She knows how kids benefit from hands-on experience outside the classroom.

“We must include exposure and access to internships and apprenticeships so students can see themselves in certain jobs within their communities,” she said. “We have to re-think how we are funding our schools and align our funding with our priorities. Listening to our local leaders is one way. We need to update and modernize our funding mechanisms.”

Whether it is technology in the Treasure Valley, manufacturing and fabricating in the Magic Valley, natural resources in Northern Idaho or the Idaho National Laboratory in Eastern Idaho, Critchfield believes listening, getting involved and partnering with education could help solve many infrastructure issues.

“There is no lack of opportunities or lack of ideas,” she said. “Everyone must align together to say we believe in the future of the state and what investments we will make. Become an ambassador by investing in education. It is about the whole state and your next-door neighbor.”