Coeur d’Alene hosted the final in-person stop of Idaho State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield’s statewide listening tour Thursday, drawing roughly a dozen educators and school officials to discuss possible changes to how Idaho funds its K-12 public schools. The session focused heavily on whether the current funding model adequately supports North Idaho districts — and most attendees said it does not.
Idaho’s Funding Standing and Local Pressure
Idaho ranks last among all 50 states in per-pupil K-12 spending, a fact that framed much of the Coeur d’Alene discussion. Coeur d’Alene Public Schools Superintendent Shon Hocker, who took the district’s top position in 2021 after working in Wyoming and North Dakota, led the conversation and argued the state’s funding structure leaves local districts stretched thin.
Hocker noted that education already consumes more than half of Idaho’s overall state budget, making the low per-student ranking particularly striking. He raised concerns about the district’s reliance on voter-approved supplemental levies to cover basic operations — a situation he said is unsustainable long-term.
“We can’t take pride in being funded dead last in the country and expect significant improvement,” Hocker said during the session.
Coeur d’Alene Public Schools currently has 164 employees whose salaries are paid through supplemental levy dollars, and those levies account for more than 25 percent of the district’s total budget. Trustees recently voted to increase the levy request to $30.25 million for the fall cycle. Hocker also pointed to compensation disparities, noting that classified employees are reimbursed at roughly $42,000 annually and that some principals earn only about $2,000 more than classroom teachers.
Those figures, he argued, make it difficult to recruit and retain qualified staff in a competitive regional labor market. “Half of not enough is still just not enough,” Hocker said.
Attendance-Based Funding Hits Post Falls Hard
Post Falls schools also came up as a focal point in Thursday’s discussion. The district’s chief financial officer, Josh Gittel, explained that Post Falls loses approximately $3 million each year under the current attendance-based funding formula. With an average attendance rate of around 93 percent, Post Falls still falls short of the benchmarks required to maximize its state reimbursement — a structural problem that costs the district millions annually regardless of enrollment trends.
That kind of attendance-linked loss is a recurring frustration for districts across Kootenai County and throughout North Idaho, where weather, geography, and rural commutes can affect daily attendance figures in ways that suburban Treasure Valley districts don’t face to the same degree.
The funding formula concerns raised in Coeur d’Alene echo debates that have played out statewide, including a Capitol forum earlier this year that drew families and officials to discuss overhauling the same formula. More recently, the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit has raised additional questions about how school choice programs interact with public school budgets already under strain.
Other Proposals Raised at the Session
Attendees offered a range of suggestions beyond simple per-pupil funding increases. West Bonner trustee Margy Hall called for the creation of regional education hubs as a way to consolidate services and stretch limited dollars further across rural North Idaho. Post Falls trustee Sara Rodriguez proposed rebranding supplemental levies, arguing that the term itself creates confusion for voters who don’t understand how central those funds have become to basic district operations — not just extras or enrichment programs.
The proposals reflect a broader frustration among Idaho educators that the funding conversation gets stuck on the state’s budget constraints rather than on structural reforms that could help districts operate more efficiently and transparently.
For context on related pressures, the Idaho Virtual School is also facing significant enrollment losses after state funding for its course offerings was cut in half, adding another dimension to the statewide debate over where education dollars go and who benefits.
What Comes Next
The in-person listening tour has wrapped up, but Superintendent Critchfield’s office scheduled one final virtual session for June 25, giving educators and community members who couldn’t attend in person a chance to weigh in. Officials have not announced a timeline for any formal funding formula recommendations stemming from the tour, but the feedback gathered across the state is expected to inform discussions when the Idaho Legislature returns for its next session.
Kootenai County residents interested in participating can watch for details on the June 25 virtual session through the Idaho State Department of Education.