Journal Guest column

An investment in your future

In a few weeks we, the voters of San Juan Island, will be getting our ballots in the mail to vote on the March 12 election to renew the Maintenance and Operations Levy for the San Juan Island School District.

As the Board of Directors, we are asking for your “yes” vote on this important measure.

Our mission is to educate students and to help them realize their full potential as responsible, productive, contributing members of society by providing an environment in which students are challenged, excellence is expected, and differences are valued.

Because of the quality of our personnel, the involvement and commitment of our families, and the support of our community, the San Juan Island School District is now one of the finest in the state of Washington.

In addition to quality personnel and broad-based involvement and support, our school district has benefited the last four years from full funding. In the state of Washington, “full funding” is a combination of funding from the state that provides 80 percent of school districts’ revenue and an additional 20 percent from local M&O levies. These monies are used for the support of our schools’ mission through allocations for items that range from textbooks to transportation.

We strongly believe that the local levy is needed in order to maintain the standard that our community has come to expect.

This is not a new tax; it is the renewal of an existing levy that provides us with full funding.

The San Juan Island School District has demonstrated the careful stewardship of our educational funds. This is evident through academic improvement as documented through rising test scores, expanded course offerings, and post-high school placement; the fine appearance of our buildings and grounds; and careful fiscal management. We have even opted for four-year levies and mail-in ballots in order to save money on elections.

The events of Sept. 11 showed us many things. They revealed that we can be vulnerable. But they also showed us that we, as Americans, can come together and work as one. As your elected Board of Directors, we have always appreciated the strong support for our schools in our community. Now, the importance of education has become all the more evident, particularly for our children to succeed in a radically changing world.

Now is the time to renew our commitment to our local public schools; this is an investment in our future. When your ballot appears in your mailbox around Feb. 20, please vote “yes” for our schools.

— Sally Bryan, John MacDougall, Bob Mancuso, Emily Orr, and Boyd Pratt, San Juan Island School District Board of Directors

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