No support for proposed school district levies | Letter to the editor

Posted

A flyer was recently prepared (at taxpayer expense) by the Port Townsend School District regarding two proposed replacement levies. 

The flyer is chockablock with psychobabble such as “enrich and deepen students’ learning experiences,” and ambiguous references to “refresh student technology devices.” Vague and subjective phrases like these would be sufficient — or so the school board mavens had hoped — to justify the money grab. Apparently the school board believed that approval of the levies was a foregone deal, because little or no time was provided for public discussions on the merits of either proposed levy before the flyer was printed and mailed.

A special election — also at taxpayer expense — was hastily organized, perhaps in an effort to forestall public debate. Ballots were mailed a day or so ago. An “Official Local Voters’ Pamphlet” accompanied the ballot, but did not provide the usual pro and con discussions. The county auditor advised voters to check it out for themselves.

But there isn’t time for voters to do their own research, because the flyer announcing the levy proposal landed in mailboxes on Jan. 18. Ballots arrived two days later! And the election will occur on Feb. 8, a few short days from the day this letter appears, hopefully, in The Leader.

The school board had to know that the existing levies would expire in December of this year, yet kept their plans in the dark — until now! It seems to me that there would have been ample time to (a) propose the levy, (b) earmark specific amounts to specific line items in a forthcoming budget, (c) conduct public hearings, and still utilize an election in the normal election cycle, thus not requiring voters to pony up the additional costs of a special election. VOTE NO!

Paul Cahill
PORT TOWNSEND