We’re raising money for the public schools. Again. But this year something feels different.     You may be wondering why we still need extra money if, according to the recent State Supreme Court decision, our state government must now fully fund K-12 education. And certainly money couldn’t be a real issue because we’re building a beautiful new high school, right?

Unfortunately, the truth is that we’re not all set. There is still a huge gap between what it costs to provide the education we as a community expect of our schools and what the state and local government can fund. And if the state must now fully fund K-12 education, as the court says, where will that money come from? Cuts to DSHS, whose services help school kids and their families? Cuts to higher education? Cuts to the ferry service? All of this is, as they say, is cutting our nose to spite our face.

So how about the new high school building? That must be costing a lot. How can we afford a new building if our budget is tight? The new high school project is being built with special levy money that Vashon residents voted for, money we can’t use for anything else. When we decided that the old high school buildings needed to be replaced to make the school more efficient, we were demonstrating that we do want our schools to be the best they can be, that we were willing to pay for things that are important.

To have a great program —  great teachers, relatively small class sizes, library, art, music, and physical education — to have all of these things, we need to help pay for it. If we want StudentLink and FamilyLink, if we want retiring teachers’ spots to be refilled and if we want clean hallways every morning, then we all need to pitch in.

The Vashon Island Public Schools Foundation exists to channel the money we can raise from our community — individuals and businesses alike — in order to financially support the schools. With each donation, we are saying that want to support and grow the high quality public school education that our community wants, demands and deserves. We all have a vested interest in our children becoming successful and productive adults.

The School District is counting on us to raise money to close next year’s budget funding gap.

If we cannot make our goal, the district will be forced to consider budget cuts. This means cuts to our program; also, the time and energy spent on determining what could be cut is time and energy that would be better spent trying to improve what we offer.

This is the moment when we all need to pitch in and support the island’s public schools. Whether or not you have a child in our schools, you are part of a community that wants its schools to be the best they can be. Every child on this island deserves to have a great public education.

— Zabette Macomber is the president of the Vashon Island Schools Foundation.