La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Voters have their ballots for the 1.45 mills replacement school levy. Some have already voted. The Weekly News supports this renewal, which decreases the tax rate from the current levy and lengthens the period to four years. Your choice is to vote “yes” to reduce the levy property tax rate or vote “no” and defund the schools.

A yes vote recognizes and thanks the District’s staff, from administrators through teachers, educational aides, bus drivers and support staff for the herculean work they have done the last year under difficult circumstances. Without warning their work world was turned upside down in March, when in-class school stopped. Staff workloads have increased, including summer preparations, as comprehensive remote learning was invented on a massive scale. Staff have worked in unison with Superintendent Rich Stewart to meet this unprecedented challenge.

Our yes votes show we understand the difficult challenges school staff confront and that we will continue to provide the needed funds for the resources supporting learning.

There would be numerous reasons to approve this levy if these were normal times. Two of them are in the ballot language: a yes vote reduces the millage to $1.45 per thousand dollars assessed property value, and the four year period means the District saves by skipping an election in 2023.

More importantly, a yes vote invests in this region’s future. Our adequate funding of the school district invests in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM), providing technical and critical thinking skills. The levy supports the Braves Club for younger students and extra-curricular activities for all ages, engaging our children and expanding their interests until parents come home from work. And monies go into the physical plant for safety, security and maintaining and equipping buildings and buses.

“We need a healthy school district. It is the heart and soul of the community,” La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes has said. He is right. We all need a healthy school district. Residents showed their support for their schools two years ago with a 70% yes vote for that levy, the highest in the county for school levies that election. Now, with the opportunity to reduce the tax rate, residents can choose to again resoundingly support our most important local institution.

As always, the choice is ours. We can choose to raise the necessary funds to pay for operations and educational programs that are at best only partially funded by the state.

Cast your ballot by Feb. 9. Vote for a better future for our community and for the children who will inherit it.