The levy that Northshore citizens are being asked to support is necessary for Northshore children to continue to receive quality education. It is unfortunate that the state of Washington does not adequately fund education, and it is even more unfortunate that this forces the school board to ask for more local support. But, that support is vital to the success of our students.
It is essential that voters understand that the Washington state constitution says that funding education is the state’s “paramount duty.” Yet the state fails to live up to its own stated duty. Northshore is among the districts who are suing the state for failing to live up to it’s constitutional responsibilities. In the meantime, the state recognizes that it is failing education funding and so recently passed a law that allows local districts to raise a little bit higher proportion of their budget via levy. There is a cap on levy funding set by the state so that the quality of education delivered across districts is equitable.
It’s true, we passed a levy in February — and we passed it at the level allowable by law at the time. The law changed. The state also cut funding even more. The leaders on the school board who are the most knowledgeable about our education funding crisis made the difficult decision to go back to the voters to try to get the new maximum allowable levy passed.
We have to educate our children to be able to function in the future. Did you know that Washington state is in the bottom 10 states as far as class size and spending per pupil? We are not preparing our students to be leaders and innovators. Before you decide how to vote, at least educate yourself about what’s at stake. Some Web sites to look for data about the education crisis are the Northshore District, the League of Education Voters and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. They are: Northshore School District, League of Education Voters and Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Vote “yes” on the school levy.
Patsy Treece, Bothell
