03/16/10

BOISE, Idaho (AP) _ A $25 million pool of money lawmakers set
aside in 2006, after the Idaho Supreme Court ruled the state's
method of paying for school construction was unconstitutional, is
being used for the first time.

The Plummer-Worley Joint School District in rural northern Idaho
is tapping more than $11 million from the loan fund to replace its
elementary school, which was vacated last year after a state
inspector found a roof in danger of collapse.

Students who regularly attended Lakeside Elementary School in
Worley were moved to the district's middle school in Plummer, where
about 150 kids are in portable trailer classrooms.

The district applied to the state's Public Schools Facilities
Cooperative Fund in November, after several attempts to convince
local property taxpayers to pass construction bonds failed.

State officials have signed off on the project, which started
this month.


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