For those people that support the Aug. 17 Northshore school levy, saying it is “only” $56 for a $400,000 house, I have this response for them.

I already pay more than $300 a month in property taxes (most of it going to schools) on my Kenmore house that sits on only a couple thousand square feet of land. When I bought this house, I had to ask my agent to verify that the property tax amount wasn’t a typo, since it was almost double the amount for comparable houses in nearby communities. It nearly caused me to choose another house over this one.

The electorate is getting justifiably tired of people saying that this levy or that tax will “only” cost them a small amount of money, when they know that they will be asked for another “small” amount of money, and another, and another in the near future. We are all learning to live more within our means in this economy, and the Northshore School District (NSD) officials need to, as well. They need to find the absolute biggest bang for every buck. That’s their job. If they can’t do it or don’t want to do it, they need to resign and offer their positions to someone who can.

I understand that state and federal mandates will make this hard. (That is just one reason to increase local control of schools, but that is a discussion for another day.) It is childish and unprofessional to whine about state cuts to the NSD budget when the voters gave them more money several times in the recent past, and when so many people are out of work, working multiple jobs, or making do with less money than they used to have.

Please vote “No” on the Aug. 17 school levy.

Julia Bach

Kenmore