District 60 reacts to failed bond

SHELEY, Idaho (KIFI) – Shelley Joint School District 60 is now trying to find other solutions to address the growth in their district after their proposed $67.8 million bond failed on Tuesday.

The election results show out of 3,636 voters, 1,760 (48%) were in favor of the bond 1,876 (52%) voted against it. The bond needed two-thirds majority (66.66%) plus one in support to pass the bond.

District 60's Superintendent Chad Williams says that's a record amount of people who have voted since 2011.

With the bond failing, Williams says it's time to go back to the drawing board.

"The fact that we only had 48% approval rate, it did surprise me," he said. "So, right now I'm just trying to think about strategies, or moving forward, what they best way to move forward is."

The district sent out a survey months back to get an idea of what the community thought about the idea of proposing a bond to build a new high school. Williams says based off of 400 responses, there seemed to be a lot of support.

He says the election results were revealing.

"With the record setting, there were 1,951 people that voted during the election, and we need to do a better job of... getting feedback from 1,900 people instead of just 400," Williams said.

Supt. Williams says he encourages community feedback. People can provide their thoughts through the surveys the district sends out or by emailing and calling the district office.