A: If the levy is approved, the ballot language requires that this funding be spent only on 43 teacher positions. 

The $3,359,360 reflects the total cost to the district, including salaries paid to employees and benefits paid to state and federal agencies. 

On average, benefits cost the district an additional 38% of the total salary amounts. Benefits include required contributions made on behalf of employees, such as PERSI (Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho), health plans, Social Security, and Medicare. 

For more information, contact Assistant Superintendent Brian Graves.

A: Below is more information on textbooks and technology:

Textbooks 

When we discuss textbooks, this includes physical and virtual materials as technology is integrated into all of our curriculum and instruction today.  

Physical textbooks are not replaced every year, but digital licensing for student programs, teacher tools, and related assessment tools for each curriculum is an annual expense.  

Physical textbooks are reviewed on a five- to eight-year cycle and are only replaced when they become outdated.  This happens when the state adopts or revises its standards for learning. 

The district’s math curriculum for grades K-8 comes with a consumable math workbook that has to be replaced each year. 

The district buys consumable supplies for the science curriculum that must be renewed each year as well.  

The state pays for our K-3 reading assessment tool( iStation) as part of the IRI, but we pay for it for 4th and 5th grade.  

We also have annual digital licensing for some special education and English Language Learners learning and assessment tools (IXL, Imagine Learning, English 3D & Rosetta Stone).

For more information contact, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Kevin Gifford

Technology

On the technology side, everything has a life cycle and must be replaced for security and support reasons. 

Some of these items are Chromebooks (student devices), desktop computers, classroom projection and audio systems, etc.

Several years ago, the district joined most districts in the state in providing one device (ours is a Chromebook) per student or a 1 to 1 ratio. At the elementary school level, students access devices in classroom sets. This year to save money, we switched the middle schools to classroom sets instead of issuing students a device to use in the classroom and at home.  High school students are issued a device for the school year which they use every day in the classroom and take home to complete homework.

Because devices age and/or are damaged, we need to purchase about 1,200 Chromebooks each year. 

Aside from Chromebook replacements, we also have the desktop computer that teachers and staff use, classroom projection, and teacher voice amplification systems that need to be replaced as they are nearing their end of life.

For more information contact Technology Coordinator Cam Elwood.

A: After years of providing no state funding for school facilities, the Idaho Legislature created two new funding sources for facilities needs, if specific conditions are met. 

For the school year 2024-25, the district expects to receive about $2 million from each of these funds for a total of $4 million for facilities needs. More details on each fund is shown below. 

Modernization Fund

In 2024, the Legislature created the new “Modernization Fund” (House Bill 521). 

Kuna’s share of this funding is expected to be about $20 million total for 10 years. 

The one-year estimate of Kuna’s share is about $2 million. 

Districts must submit plans to access these funds and they cannot be used for routine maintenance, athletic facilities, or salaries. 

School District Facilities Fund and the Homeowner Property Tax Relief Account

In 2023, the Legislature created the “School District Facilities Fund and the Homeowner Property Tax Relief Account” (House Bill 292).  

The purpose of this account is to reduce property taxes in a given year for all property owners by providing school districts funding to help pay off school bonds and supplemental levies. If no bond and supplemental levies are collected in a year, the money is given to the school district for facilities needs. 

This funding was nicknamed “waterfall money” because the law dictates specific priorities for the use of the money in a given year: 

• First required use - Reduce bond levy, if no bond levy then 
• Second required use - Reduce supplemental levy, if no supplemental levy then 
• Third required use - Reduce facilities levy, if no facilities levy then
• Fourth required use - Funding goes to the school district for facility needs including routine maintenance.

• In the 2024-25 school year, the district will not collect property taxes for a bond levy, supplemental levy, or a facility levy. This means the district will receive about $2 million from this fund for one year.  The news outlet Idaho Education News recently did an in-depth article about these new funds, you may read it here.

A: In the past, school districts received a portion of revenue from the Idaho Lottery earmarked for facilities maintenance. The Legislature redirected this money to help fund the “Modernization Fund.” To learn more about this funds, please review the answer to the question: “Explain the $4 million funding the district will receive for critical maintenance needs?”

The failed May 21, 2024 would have provided about $2.8 million for two years to address critical maintenance needs, specifically:

• Roof replacement - Reed & Hubbard
• Fire alarm replacement  - Hubbard, Indian Creek, Kuna High & Ross
• Heating/Air Conditioning replacement - Kuna High, Indian Creek & Ross 

 While we are disappointed this levy was not approved, we were pleased that the Idaho Legislature last spring allocated the first-ever money for school districts to make critical repairs over 10 years.  Our facilities needs for the next 10 years are estimated at more than $440 million. The state is expected to provide KSD about $20 million for that time period for projects.  (Read more under the question: “Explain the $4 million funding the district received for critical maintenance needs?”)

Each month, Assistant Superintendent Brian Graves updates the school board on the required paperwork to access this money and the cost of the projects. 

September 2024

Here's a link to the report provided to the school board in September.  

You may also watch a recording of a live stream of the September meeting  where the school board discusses the status of the projects.

October 2024

Here’s a link to the report provided to the school board in October.

You may also watch a recording of a live stream of the October meeting where the school board discusses the status of the projects

Area contractors will be able to submit bids for the projects following the process required in Idaho law. If you have more questions or would like to direct a contractor to get more information, please call Assistant Superintendent Brian Graves at 208 922-1000.

Many Western states do allow school districts to collect impact fees. Idaho does not. 

In the absence of legal authority to require an impact fee, our Kuna School Board has partnered with the City of Kuna and other school boards to ask the Legislature to change the law. The bills have stalled in state legislative committees. 

Kuna does ask developers to consider making a voluntary contribution to the district to help offset the costs of growth. Some developers partner and we appreciate that we have received land for future school sites. However, we need voters to authorize bonds to build the schools. Idaho Education News wrote about our efforts last spring. Here’s a link to the story.

A: Moody's rates school districts by looking at their financial strength, such as their savings, debt, and how well they manage their budget. They also consider how steady their funding is from taxes and state aid, whether enrollment is growing or shrinking, and the overall local economy. Good leadership and well-planned spending help improve ratings, while districts with financial problems or high debt might get lower ratings.

Overall, it is recommended to have at least 9% in the general unrestricted fund balance.

Idaho school districts are not businesses. They were created by the Idaho Legislature to fulfill its Idaho Constitution’s obligation to “maintain a general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common schools.” 

The district already provides an extensive after-school program through its middle school and high school sports, activities, and music programs. None of these programs are self-sufficient, meaning the district must redirect funds that could be spent on classrooms to provide these activities.

Standing up any new programs, specifically staffing them, would also require the district to redirect money from operating schools to start up optional programs with the hope that the fees required to use these programs will cover the costs and will be paid by the participants. Currently, other choice programs, such as school meals and activities, have families who do not pay for the services. 

The district is grateful that a grant from Meta will pay to expand Lego Clubs to all our elementary schools. This grant does not pay all the staffing and equipment cost and families will need to pay a fee for their student to participate.

A: No. While many states do have an annual property tax to support schools, Idaho eliminated the annual M&O property tax for local schools in 2006. This M&O tax was a fixed rate that would generate more funding as communities grew, more homes were built, and property values increased. Today, that doesn’t happen. School districts can only collect specific amounts of taxes approved by voters. This means that, generally if a levy stays at the same amount, the amount every taxpayer pays decreases when more taxpayers are added. 

A: We appreciate this question as answering it required our team to request information from the State Department of Education so we could analyze administrative staffing data from similar-sized school districts across Idaho and our neighboring districts in the Treasure Valley.

We learned that our average administrators per school -- 2.0 -- is similar to school districts our size and districts in the Treasure Valley.

A: We would love to talk with individuals on how we can improve in this area. 

Here’s some of the efforts under way:

• School Board Meetings - We livestream meetings on the and archive them for public access later at this link. In addition, a Board Report is published, recapping decisions is published on our website and sent to parents and staff. According to Idaho Education News, very few districts do this, read their story here. 
• The monthly Board Agenda includes links to information about the items being considered by trustees including monthly financials, budget status reports, personnel, etc.  
• District Financial Transparency website - This website provides a wealth of information including budget documents, audit reports, contracts with companies, the Kuna Education Association etc.  
• State Financial Transparency website - We provide all our financial information to the State of Idaho, which has created a searchable database of expenditures and salary information for public schools. 
• Qualifications of our certified staff - This is available from the Idaho State Department of Education for the public to use to look up the qualifications of certified staff in all public schools. 
• Student grades, attendance information - Parents and students can review this information and other data about their student(s) in PowerSchool.
• Classroom assignments, syllabus, etc. - Parents can review information about lessons, expectations, and student assignment completion for students in grades 6 to 12 in Schoology.   
• Student meal balances - Parents can review information about the money on their student’s email account, set low balance alerts, and make payments through Linq Connect or by contacting their student(s) school.
• Classroom visits - Parents can visit their student’s classroom. Interested parents should contact their school principal. 
• School Library book collections - Parents can access information about what books are available in school libraries. Here’s a link to more information. Parents can also work with their student(s)’ school to restrict access to specific materials for their child.
• Regular Reports on Activities in School and Student learning  - Our school, district and teachers provide updates to families using a schedule developed by our educators and parents.

Public Records Requests - The district provided information in response to nearly 30 requests in the 2023-24 school year.

1. Not true. The 2017 “Growing Forward” bond proposed expansions at elementary schools, middle schools, safety repairs and the first phase of Swan Falls. A bond measure to complete Swan Fall’s at that time would have exhausted the district’s bonding capacity and left no funds for other critical projects. The 2017 Bond was spent on the projects promised including:
   • Multipurpose Athletic Room Kuna High School 
   • Addition to Kuna Middle School
   • Classroom addition to Reed Elementary
   • Classroom addition to Silver Trail Elementary
   • Converting Teed Elementary to Fremont Middle School
   • Construction of phase one of Swan Falls High School 
   • Critical maintenance needs

Here are links to news stories at the time that document that Swan Falls would be built in phases depending on future bond elections:

• Idaho Press-Tribune
• Idaho Statesman

Review the master plan proposal December 2016 Kuna School Board.

A: We are referred to as: "Joint School District No. 3, Ada and Canyon Counties." Our district boundaries are in two counties. In addition, some of our district residents have addresses in Kuna, Nampa, Boise, and Meridian.

The 2023 Bond that failed included two projects with significant parking expansions that would have improved conditions in the Kuna High area. 

The first and most significant project was the second phase of Swan Falls, which made it a stand-alone high school with a significant expansion in parking spaces. If that had been approved, the current KHS student body (and its drivers) would have been divided among the two schools. Below is a screenshot, and here is a link to the design for Swan Falls showing the parking. 

The second project is expanding parking at Fremont Middle School, among other projects at the school. Here's a link to the design showing the planned added parking. 

The bond failed; therefore, these projects could not move forward. If you are interested in serving on the next Capital Plan committee, please let us know!