BCSD receives $1.5 million grant for shop expansion

BONNERS FERRY — The Boundary County School District has received a $1.5 million grant from the Idaho Career Ready Students Council for career technical education, which will be used to build a shop expansion at Bonners Ferry High School.  

BCSD had previously applied for the grant three times before receiving the funding. An additional $20 million appropriation approved by the Idaho Legislature during the 2024 session helped fund additional grants. 

The plan is to extend the shop, add a classroom for the Oriental horticulture course to the shop and create extra storage. 

BCSD Superintendent Jan Bayer said the district is also discussing bringing back the CNA program in collaboration with Boundary Community Hospital. The program was dissolved at the high school when the nurse teaching the course retired.  

Bayer said students, community members and local employers have been asking for the program as CNAs are few and far between in the area.  

BCSD is looking to improve career readiness and in the future expand its CTE programs by expanding entry level courses to the middle school. By having students exposed to industry soft and hard skills earlier, they will be more likely to hit their capstone senior year and graduate with certifications, Bayer said.  

Bayer said a CDL course and certification could be possible at the high school level, since Idaho 18-year-olds can hold CDLs.

With the anticipation toward North Idaho Classical Academy, a charter school, starting in Boundary County in 2025 and focusing on liberal arts, BCSD will have to shift and reach another population to retain students. 

“We'll have to look at our communities needs for that,” she said.  

The original shop expansion, when it was included on a failed bond, had an estimated cost of $300,000.  

BCSD has committed to putting $200,000 into the new shop expansion as part of the grant agreement. 

“It will be a $1.7 million project once it's done,” she said.   

BCSD has a deadline of June 2025 to begin allocating funds. They hope to start construction in February 2025.