People from across America and around the world willingly pay a premium—and make other sacrifices—to live near Blaine County’s many outstanding assets.
This premium brings its own perks. Our large property tax base, for instance, allows Blaine County School District (BCSD) to spend two-and-a-half times Idaho’s per-student average: $16,500 vs. $6,600. Indeed, such funding provides a much richer educational experience for our students, educators, and community.
Despite these advantages, however, all is not well at BCSD. For many years, administrative “creep” has created the administration-dominated governance that we see today. Most tellingly, our district is now heavy on administration at the expense of students. In addition, various top administrators and school board trustees routinely obstruct the public process, as evidenced by recent county prosecutor and court rulings.
Concerned individual citizens have long pleaded with district leaders for reform. Yet, as these uncoordinated calls for change have mostly been ineffective, our district continues to suffer from leadership deficiencies and financial challenge.
Last October, therefore, the Coalition for Blaine County School District Accountability (CoalitionBCSD) formed to consolidate some of these voices. We believe that, together, we can more effectively work toward a highly transparent, accountable, citizen-governed district.
Many readers may be aware that CoalitionBCSD has employed a persistent, often forceful campaign; this route was chosen to raise awareness and create the community-wide discussions now occurring.
Has our approach been flawless? Certainly not. We are always learning to better manage this debate’s tricky politics and to choose our words more carefully. At the same time, though, CoalitionBCSD recognizes that polite requests for reform will continue to go nowhere.
Largely out of our control is the occasional challenge of published misquotes, quotes out of context, or inaccurate/incomplete news reporting. Although these sometimes-deep potholes inadvertently bump the discussion off course, CoalitionBCSD understands that one can’t expect to travel through such mucky terrain without sometimes getting splattered. Having said that, we depend heavily on, and are thus very grateful for, the opinion forums of our local newspapers.
At the end of the day, CoalitionBCSD is a small number of dedicated Blaine County residents going up against BCSD’s well-staffed, well-connected, taxpayer-funded political machine; our direct approach makes CoalitionBCSD an easy target for those who support the admin-driven, admin-friendly status quo.
Nevertheless, we will continue to work toward a more open, accountable, citizen-directed school district—one that always puts the needs of students first.
Chad Pringle
CoalitionBCSD member
And Blaine County resident