There’s little question whether the local schools levy on the ballot that Vashon voters will receive in the mail this week will pass. The Maintenance and Operations Levy that provides more than 20 percent of the school district’s budget each year has been supported on the island for more than two decades, and we doubt that will change this year.
New in this election, however, is a dissenting voice — perhaps one that some of the 30 percent who voted no on the levy four years ago would agree with. For the first time in quite a while, Vashon voters will see a statement against the levy included in their voters’ guide. The argument is written by three people who appear to be from off-island and largely focus on the fact that levy funds are used in part to pay teachers beyond what the state provides for wages and that the district gave teachers raises last year. The authors argue that “taxpayers should hold off giving the school district any more money until the school board is able to put student services above the demands of union officials.”
This brief argument is clearly pushing an anti-tax, anti-union agenda and disregards the fact that this levy has kept our three public schools thriving for decades. According to a school district official, the authors of this statement are associated with the Freedom Foundation (formerly the Evergreen Freedom Foundation), a conservative think tank based in Olympia. A representative from the Freedom Foundation last week said he couldn’t confirm that without some digging, but that foundation members do frequently submit 11th-hour statements for ballot measures when no other parties step up to do so. An email from The Beachcomber to the address listed by the authors’ names wasn’t returned by press deadline.
Vashon’s school board has seen the district through a financial crisis, has spent tax dollars wisely in recent years and has earned voters’ trust. Yes, teachers on Vashon will receive an 8 percent raise over the next three years, but that raise simply puts them more in line with their peers around the region. To attract and keep quality teachers, we must compensate them well and, on Vashon and in most other school districts, that means supplementing what the state provides.
Schools in our state are sadly underfunded — so much so that the state Supreme Court ruled lawmakers should overhaul education funding by 2018 (though there’s been little movement in Olympia toward that goal). These days, almost all school districts accross the state round out their funding with local levies that pick up where the state falls short. Losing that local funding would be painful for our school district and would likely result in larger class sizes and weaker programs in our schools. Until the lawmakers can agree on a way to fix education funding, we should support our schools by continuing to approve this vital levy.
