A few days after a King County Superior Court judge ruled that the state was failing to meet its constitutional mandate to “amply” fund education, Islanders — like voters throughout the region — overwhelmingly endorsed a levy to help support our public schools.

The vote was a statement Islanders have made many times before: We believe in education deeply enough that we’re willing to tax ourselves to help pay for it. The endorsement, as well as the promise of much-needed cash, couldn’t come at a better time. The school district will soon dive into a tough budget round, similar to last year’s, though likely even harder.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Olympia, trying to figure out how to dig the state out of a $2.6 billion budget hole, are looking to solve the problem in part by finding ways to bring in more revenue. To that end, the Senate recently voted to suspend for one year a Tim Eyman-orchestrated initiative that requires a supermajority in the Legislature to pass a tax measure.

It was a courageous move — and an essential one. Without an increase in revenue, cuts at the state level will continue to eat away at essential services, including the quality of education here on Vashon.

It’s easy to rail against taxes. Indeed, conservative intellectuals long ago won the war of words over the issue, managing to get phrases like “tax relief” so woven into the U.S. political lexicon that few people see that expression for the politically charged phrase that it is.

But taxes are not a kind of affliction from which one needs to seek relief. They’re the price of membership in a civic society. They’re our investment in the future, our profound expression of hope for both ourselves and those who come after us.

Government can certainly waste money, as can corporations or any big institution. It’s imperative that the state continues to seek out savings; state employees, for instance, should be required to pay a greater proportion of their health-care costs, like most working Americans.

It’s also essential that the drumbeat for tax reform grows louder in Washington, since — as it stands now — the state’s tax structure puts a disproportionate burden on middle-income families and small businesses.

Still, a simplistic anti-tax stance is just that — simplistic.

Voters on Vashon endorsed public education. Now we need lawmakers in Olympia to craft a budget that endorses our shared civic responsibility to build a humane, forward-looking society.