8 May 2014

What’s next for the information technology levy?

The info tech levy for the Kalispell high schools failed by 248 votes. Flipping 125 votes would have produced a victory. That will tempt the school board to run the levy again. And the levy probably should be run again — but only if there’s an aggressive campaign to pass it.

There may have been a time when levies passed easily. But they don’t now. It’s not enough for the school district to hold informational meetings, write opeds for the local newspapers, and secure editorial endorsements. A strong case for the levy must be made, and that case must be carried door-to-door by a well organized and funded campaign.

School board members should wait for a pro-levy citizens group to organize before considering whether to run the info tech levy again. And instead of calling it a “technology levy,” the levy should be presented as the “Information Technology Levy.”

Kalispell information technology levy rural-urban split

A breakdown of the votes by school district reveals that urban voters favored both levies, while rural voters opposed the high school levy. Using data from the InterLake’s story on the rural-urban split, I prepared the table below. In Kalispell, there was substantial support for the high school levy, but significantly less support for the elementary levy, which passed by just 32 votes.