Additional well needed for high school’s grounds

The grounds and sports complex at Weiser High School could use a second well, but it will probably be months before the Weiser School District can get an estimate on what it will cost.

 During his monthly report to the WSD trustees in June, Superintendent Dave Kerby repeated what he had said in a previous weekly report to the board.

 “Our high school complex has one irrigation pump and one irrigation well,” Kerby said. “They’re really struggling with watering everything. 

 Kerby said they are looking into potentially adding another well, but a main local well-driller seems to be scheduled out to October “before he can give us an estimate.”

 Kerby asked for recommendations of any other nearby well-drillers who might be able to get to it sooner, with the lawn maintenance staff doing what they can to keep the area watered as summer heats up.

 “There’s around 100 valves, according to Marcy (Hooper), and several of the zones are combined to get proper pressure to sprinklers to get enough water on all of the grass, and then adjust for temperature changes,” Kerby told the board. “She has to water the new grass (at the track) for 15 minutes twice a day to try to get it going, so she’s performing some magic up there to try to keep everything wet.”

 Checking in with Kerby a week later, he told the Signal American that having another well and pump will greatly simplify the watering process, and provide more consistency.

 “We don’t anticipate being able to add another well and pump before next season, but it is in the works, and several well drillers have been contacted,” he said.

Field house or no field house

 An anticipated addition of a field house at the WHS sports complex has been on hold, and may continue to be, considering an estimated $2 million price tag 

 Just taking the superintendent’s position in late January, Kerby said from what he understands there was a public perception that a field house was part of a two-year $750,000 supplemental levy.

 “I feel like we need to try to move forward with it if we can,” he said. “I think there was $400,000 last year that was obligated, but I think $400,000 is coming in with the levy (this year). We don’t know what the full cost is going to be or how much we can get done with $400,000. The steel frame has been donated, but, if it’s $2 million to put it together, that’s a stretch.”

 Deputy Clerk Barbara Choate said that even though the hope had been there would be enough funding through the levy for the field house, no one had anticipated its construction would run close to $2 million.

 “None of us realized the track was going to cost almost $1.2 million, instead of $800k,“ Choate said. “What was donated to us is the steel and the insulation for the building, but the construction, the concrete pad, and the finishing of the building on the inside, plumbing, electrical, and all of that, is up to the district, and we had no idea it would cost as much as it does.

 “But the $400,000 for two years of the levy, the (total) $800,000 we asked our taxpayers for the track and building, wasn’t even enough to cover the track,” she said

 A week after the meeting where the trustees approved a decreased budget plan based on decreased state funding because of anticipated lower student enrollment numbers, Gov. Brad Little told the Department of Education and state agency directors to plan on up to 6% holdbacks for the upcoming fiscal year. The holdback call comes on the heels of a decline in projected state revenues, along with a $453 million state tax cut approved during the 2025 Idaho legislative session, which includes a reduced individual and corporate income tax rate from 5.695 percent to 5.3 percent, among a number of decisions made in the session.

 “We would definitely feel a 6 percent holdback,” Choate told the Signal American. “My response to that is it is time to tighten our belts before the school year even starts. The State did not give any increase to discretionary funding for schools for the coming school year. In an environment where expenses are increasing and revenues are now decreasing, we will save wherever we can.”

 A bit of good news came last week through the U.S. Senate’s extension of the Secure Rural Schools Act (SRS), although its fate now rests in the hands of the House. WSD had received around $42,000 in revenues from SRS in 2024, and a disbursement from existing Forest Service revenue sharing payments for the program this spring amounted to less than $3,000, representing an 80 percent decline in payments from the program to 745 eligible counties in 41 states.