D93 Family Update
April 20, 2023
Weekly Schedule
Great Things Happening
Governor Little Visits Ucon Elementary School
On Friday, Governor Little visited Ucon Elementary School to do a ceremonial signing of SB1127 designating Oryctodromeus as the official state dinosaur in Idaho. The Oryctodromeus measured about 12 feet long and had more tail than torso. It mostly ate vegetation and dug out burrows for its family. Oryctodromeus fossils have been mostly found in eastern Idaho and some have been found in Montana. Students in Mr. Walton’s fourth grade class led the charge to get an official state dinosaur. They were joined by fourth graders around the state in testifying in support of the bill.
This is Governor Little's fourth visit to District 93 schools since he took office in 2018.
Thunder Ridge Honor Society Students Recognized for Humanitarian Work
On Wednesday night, Thunder Ridge Honor Society students and their advisor, Natalie Woods, were recognized by former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. These students raised funds to provide homes to families whose homes have been destroyed by Russian attacks. President Yuschenko and his wife presented the students with Ukrainian coins to commemorate their efforts.
School Board News
May 16th Bond Information
What steps has the district taken to address rising property taxes?
With unprecedented increases to the assessed values of homes and businesses over the past several years, the School Board restructured its approach to property tax collections. Instead of continuing to maintain a flat levy rate, the Board instead decided to level the annual amount collected for bond payments. Refinancing prior bonds not only allowed the District to save millions in interest, it also leveled annual bond payments to approximately $9 million a year after bond levy equalization funds from the state. This approach means that as property values go up, the levy rate will go down, as shown in the chart below. Last September, to combat an unprecedented spike in property values of more than 30%, the school board also voted to use money from our bond savings account to provide a one-time, $6 million reduction in property taxes.
How will the new property tax relief bill affect our taxes?
This year, the state enacted property tax relief, HB 292, that provides new funding to school districts to pay bonds, reduce property tax levies, or to reserve funds for future facilities needs. The amount for each district will depend on on how much money is in the state surplus budget as well as the number of students in attendance.
Based on early estimates, we expect to receive between $3.5 and $5.5 million next year. These funds will be used to pay our existing bonds, which will reduce the amount of property taxes that we collect from our local taxpayers. We anticipate that this will reduce property taxes by about $75 per $100,000 next year (but, this amount could be as low as $55 per year and as high as $90 per year).
* The interest rate anticipated on the proposed bond issue is 3.62% per annum. The total amount estimated to be repaid over the life of the bonds, based on the anticipated interest rate, is $37,783,835, consisting of $34,500,000 in principal and $12,273,750 of interest, less $8,989,915 in estimated bond levy equalization payments. The term of the bonds will not exceed seventeen (17) years from the date of issuance. The estimated average annual cost to the taxpayer on the proposed bond levy is a tax of $36 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, per year, based on current conditions. As of May 16, 2023, the total existing bonded indebtedness of the District, including interest accrued, is $98,737,850.
Zone 1 Vacancy Applications due by Monday
The current seat for Zone 1 Trustee is vacant. Any registered voter who resides in Zone 1 is eligible to apply for this vacancy as long as they or their spouse are not employees of the District. Individuals who are interested may apply by completing an online form available at d93.org/1140F by Monday, April 24th at 5:00 pm.
Zone 1 is the southeast corner of Bonneville School District that includes residents who live in the following areas:
- East of 55th East and south of Lincoln Road
- East of the railroad tracks and south of 1st Street
- East of Ammon Road and south of 17th Street
D93 News
In this week's edition of D93 News, Ucon had a "Little" visitor from Boise that created a roar, a Sandcreek class gets a nice surprise from Local News 8's, Todd Kunz and Mountain America for their humanitarian efforts that is making a difference in another country. All this on this week's D93 News.
Family Events & Resources
To help parents understand how BCSO and D93 schools prepare for and respond to threats and emergencies at school, we are inviting parents to join us for a presentation and discussion about school safety and response. The presentation is about 45 mins and includes time to answer parent
questions. The goal is to educate and involve parents in prevention efforts, how safety processes are applied, and things to expect if your child's school has an emergency.
- Apr 17 – Ucon Elementary at 6:00 pm
Apr 18 – Iona Elementary at 6:00 pm
- Apr. 25 – Ammon Elementary at 6:30 pm
- Apr. 26 – Falls Valley Elementary at 6:00 pm
- Apr. 27 – Mountain Valley Elementary at 6:30 pm
- May 1 – Discovery Elementary at 7:00 pm
- May 2 – Hillview Elementary at 6:00 pm
- May 3 – Fairview Elementary at 6:00 pm
- May 4 – Bridgewater Elementary at 7:00 pm
- May 8 – Woodland Hills Elementary at 6:00 pm
- Apr 20 – Rimrock Elementary at 6:30 pm
- Apr 19 – Tiebreaker Elementary at 6:30 pm
Opportunities for Students
Nonprofit Soccer Camp for Autistic Children
D93 Get Help Line
Students, parents, and employees can reach out for help with bullying, harassment, suicidal tendencies, self-harm, threats, or to report weapons at school by going to d93.org/gethelp or sending the text @gethelp to 855-528-0074.
Thank you to our community partners at EIRMC for supporting our D93 Family Update.