After voters rejected a bond proposal for the third time in a little more than a year, officials with Bonneville Joint School District No. 93 in Idaho Falls, Idaho, say they don't plan to bring the request back to voters.
KIDK-TV reports that a comfortable majority of voters--more than 66 percent--supported the $56.1 million proposal to build a new high school, but the total fell just short of the two-thirds majority that Idaho law requires for school district bond requests to win approval.
Without a new high school, the district will have to resort to split sessions in a few years, Superintendent Chuck Shackett says. Half of the students would attend high school from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and half would attend from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The defeat comes two months after voters said no to the same $56.1 million plan. Voters also rejected a $92 million bond request in March 2014 that also included plans for a new middle school.
The bonds would have enabled the district to build an 1,500-student high school that would have opened in 2018.
Proponents asserted that an additional high school was needed to relieve crowding at Bonneville and Hillcrest high schools.
"Congestion in high traffic areas including hallways, stairwells, restrooms, and parking lots has heightened concern for student safety and led to an increased number of disciplinary incidents," proponents said.
Opponents contended that the bond request would raise taxes too much and would not address crowding problems in schools quickly enough.
Video from KIDK-TV:
