Beyond the Bell offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Boise School District—covering the financial, operational, and policy decisions that shape our schools.
What Will Education Look Like in Our Community? Help Shape the Future for Students, Families and Our Community
Whether you currently have children in school, your children have graduated, or you have never had children in our schools, our school facilities are valuable community resources, and your perspective can help us determine how these resources can best serve our entire community for generations to come.
Our enrollment, demographics, educational program, and community needs are changing. Broad community input will help ensure our facilities remain safe, welcoming, effective, and responsive to the needs of our community. The long-range facilities plan will guide future investments and decisions about how our schools and facilities will be used, maintained, improved, and repurposed over the next ten years.
No final decisions have been made. Your questions, ideas, and feedback will help refine the recommendations that eventually go to the Board of Trustees.
Our schools serve our entire community and are valuable community assets. They are used for much more than just the typical school day, as they are also used to provide Community Education courses, venues for performing arts, meeting spaces for neighborhood associations and community groups, as well as hubs for recreation and activities.
Our facilities also serve and support Boise patrons of all ages. Through partnerships with the City of Boise, YMCA, and other community organizations, our schools provide space for senior programs, youth programs, city league sports, polling locations for elections, recreation, and other community-based activities.
Please consider attending one of our community meetings:
Board of Trustees Certify $1.6 Million Less in Property Taxes for 2026 - 2027
For the 2026-27 school year, the Boise School District Board of Trustees certified a property tax levy of $154.8 million, approximately $1.6 million less than the $156.4 million levied in 2025-26. The decrease is primarily related to changes in how certain utility companies are taxed. Under the new process, our District will receive approximately $1.2 million in state property tax replacement revenue rather than collecting those dollars directly through the property tax levy.
The District’s Maintenance and Operations levy remains unchanged, as does the District’s four voter-approved supplemental levies; the replacement revenue simply reduces the portion that must be collected directly from local property taxpayers.
We have also received approximately $19.9 million in School District Facilities Funding from the State of Idaho this year. Approximately $13 million of that funding will be applied to the District’s bond payment, meaning the District will once again not levy local property taxes for repayment of the bonds. The remaining approximately $7 million will be available for eligible school facility and maintenance projects, providing additional state resources to invest in our schools.
Bond Refinancing Projected to Save $5 Million over 10 Years
At its September 14 meeting, the Board of Trustees received an update from Piper Sandler on current market conditions and the opportunity to refinance our District’s Series 2017 General Obligation Bonds, which become eligible to be paid off or refinanced on February 1, 2027. Based on market conditions as of September 8, refinancing the bonds was estimated to save approximately $5 million in future debt-service payments over the remaining life of the bonds.
Hawley Troxell, our District’s bond counsel, also presented the bond resolution and related legal documents, and the Board approved moving forward with the next steps in the refinancing process. The bond sale is currently anticipated in October, with the existing Series 2017 bonds scheduled to be paid off on February 1, 2027.
Board members Krista Hasler and Dr. Alejandro Necochea, who ran unopposed, as well as former Trustee Andy Hawes who won a close race in his bid to return to serve as a Trustee, took the oath of office.
Full elections results, Trustee bios, and information about the Board of Trustees are available on our website.
Parent Advocacy Group Begins Year with Learning, Listening and Dialogue
Boise School District’s Parent Advocacy Group kicked off its second year in September, continuing its work to strengthen communication between families and District leadership and bring parent perspectives into important conversations about our schools.
The group was created to foster meaningful collaboration by amplifying parent voices, promoting community engagement and developing a network of informed advocates. Members are asked to listen to understand, make space for different perspectives, remain solution-focused and, above all, keep students at the center of their conversations.
Throughout the year, Parent Advocacy Group members will continue visiting schools, learning about our programs and priorities, asking questions and sharing feedback.
A Thoughtful Approach to Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing education, the workplace and everyday life. Our approach is straightforward: prepare students for that changing world while protecting their privacy, preserving authentic learning and keeping educators at the center of teaching.
This fall, we joined a national group of school systems partnering with OpenAI to provide teachers, staff and administrators access to an education-focused version of ChatGPT. The partnership gives employees a more secure environment with administrative controls and stronger privacy protections than individual consumer accounts. Information shared within the District’s workspace is not used to train OpenAI’s models, and the agreement does not provide OpenAI access to District student information systems, schedules or student location data.
Keeping People at the Center of Learning
Just as importantly, this is an educator tool — not a replacement for educators. Teachers may eventually use AI to help brainstorm instructional ideas, adapt materials, develop questions or reduce time spent on routine planning and administrative work. But professional judgment remains with the teacher. AI-generated information can be inaccurate or biased, and staff will remain responsible for reviewing and verifying anything they use.
Implementation Will be Deliberate
We’re beginning with our technology staff and will use the coming months to establish expectations, provide training and address questions about privacy, accuracy, academic integrity and appropriate use before expanding access more broadly.
Our practices will continue to develop as the technology, educational research and professional guidance evolve. We will listen to educators and families, examine how AI affects teaching and learning, and adjust our approach when needed.
Our goal is not to measure success by how much AI gets used. It is to determine where the technology can genuinely support great teaching, give educators more time to focus on students and relationships, and help prepare students to use emerging technology thoughtfully and responsibly.
If you have any questions or comments, please visit our website or complete this brief form.
National Recognition Reflects Strength of Academic Opportunities
Two recent national recognitions offer a useful snapshot of the academic opportunities available to Boise students—and the results students are achieving when rigorous coursework is paired with strong teaching and support.
At the same time, participation and achievement in AP Capstone continue to grow. During the 2025–26 school year, 44 students from all four traditional high schools earned AP Capstone distinctions. Thirty-four earned the AP Capstone Diploma—more than twice the number recognized during the program’s inaugural year—while 10 earned the AP Seminar and Research Certificate.
The two programs measure different things, but together they reflect an important part of the District’s academic strategy: providing students with access to challenging coursework that develops not only content knowledge, but also the ability to research, analyze information, communicate ideas and solve complex problems.
For our community, these recognitions are about more than awards. They are one indicator of the value of maintaining strong academic programs, experienced educators and a wide range of opportunities that allow students to stretch themselves, pursue their interests and prepare for what comes next.
Boise Schools At-A-Glance
🏫 Schools & Enrollment
48 neighborhood schools with open enrollment
Full-day Kindergarten at every elementary school
2 District-wide Early Childhood Learning Centers
🎓 Academics & Teachers
76% of teachers hold a Master’s degree
67% of graduates pursue post-secondary education
🔧 Career & Technical Education
5,000+ students enrolled in Career-Technical Programs
🍎 Student Support
Free breakfast for all students
Access to social workers and counselors at all schools
⚽ Activities & Opportunities
200+ sports, clubs, and student-led organizations
Additional resources for (even) more information about the operations of our District
We maintain a rich archive of past Board of Trustee meetings and additional district operational information. Board agendas can be found online and contain not only topics discussed but also links to presentations from students, teachers and administrators on a host of school district initiatives, operations and programs. Video of regular Board meetings are available on our YouTube channel.
