Mr. Marvin Wong posted an exciting email to us today, so we base this article on the information he kindly provided.

Grangeville has about 3x the student population as Cottonwood, lower academic achievement compared with Cottonwood, and is asking for about 10x as much levy money as Cottonwood is using.

Clearwater Valley has about 3/4ths of the student population as Cottonwood, but lower academic achievement compared to Cottonwood, and is requesting about 5x as much levy money as Cottonwood is using.

According to the Cottonwood School District Superintendent, almost half of their levy money is for speech pathology services ($80k).

Perhaps academic achievement is not best supported by throwing money at it?

Chart:

References:

• Best Public Schools in Idaho
• Elk City School
• Clearwater Valley School
• 22 Levies Pass