“No” voters provide alternative to D93 bond

Bond and levy referendums have grown increasingly controversial in eastern Idaho. The bond referendum in Bonneville Joint School District 93 seems especially contentious.

The districts proposal calls for a $56.1 million bond to build a new high school. Superintendent Charles Shackett said this is the same proposal that nearly 66 percent of voters approved on March 10.

Those in opposition have put up billboards, yard signs, created a Facebook page and utilized radio time insisting the district does not need this bond. Although both sides agree that overcrowding is a big issue throughout the district, many people, like Lawrence Lyon, say there are better solutions.

“My issues with this proposal is that it takes too long to solve the problem and actually increases the likelihood of split sessions,” he said. “It only addresses the problems in the high school. It doesn’t do anything to address the needs of the lower grades and that it raises taxes unnecessarily.”

Taxes have been at the center of discussions. Lyon said he understands raising tax dollars to fund education, but only if the money is used responsibly.

“The district seems to lose sight of the fact that people actually have to work for this money that they’re taking in taxes,” said Lyon. “These tax dollars represent people’s blood, sweat and tears that they give to earn a living.”

The district has proposed a new high school that would hold the estimated 1,500 student population growth. The school is to be built with a core capacity for 1,800 students to allow for future growth and is expected to be completed by 2018. But Lyon says the focus should be on construction of a new middle school.

“It would have passed overwhelmingly and we would already be a year into the construction of it, he said. “If they would have put a middle school on the ballot two months ago, it would have passed overwhelmingly and there would have been no vote ‘no’ campaign and we’d already be moving forward with the plans for construction.”

Shackett said building a new middle school has been an option the district has looked at and decided against.

Voters will go to the polls Tuesday.

For more information on the bond proposal, go tohttp://www.d93bond.com.