||| FROM KATE LONG and CHRIS SUTTON |||
If nothing else, this past year has exemplified the need for everyone to have access to reliable technology. Our public school partnered with community groups to provide Chromebooks and internet connections for students and staff so they could keep up with their work while keeping us all safe. As a result, many students have become even more independent learners after having to navigate so much on their own.
The Technology and Capital Projects Levy on the April 27 ballot will replace a previously expired levy—one that passed in 2014 with 64.85% voter approval. This levy will provide funding for important upgrades and improvements. Now is not the time to let our technologies lapse. Please join us in voting YES for the Orcas Island School District Technology Levy.
For more information, visit the OISD website: http://orcasislandschools.org/
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
Surely there is a better way to fund the public schools than endless levies. Granted, 2020 was a unusual year, but do we really need to go through an entire song and dance routine EVERY year? Children are still children, year after year they still need to be educated. Is that so hard to anticipate and put into place adequate funding? In the last 30 years it seems like there has been some kind of school levy or tax at least every other year or so. Now we are being asked for THREE MILLION more dollars! For WHAT? What does a “facilities and technology modernization levy” actually get used for? I am tired of being the blank check for the public school. Do we need to educate children? Of course. Do we need to throw bucketfuls of money at the work? No, we do not. The school must learn to live within their budget, just like the rest of us. I urge you to send a signal to the school board that we will not be guilt tripped into handing over one more blank check. Vote NO on proposition 1.
I will be voting with Kate and Chris, and not taking an ‘adult problem’ about how to fund schools OUT on our kids! Please Ken look at the school’s budget closely and figure out where YOU would make cuts “to live within their budget”, especially in a time like this. This is not the time to cut the technology budget!
Ken…the need for improving technology has never been more critical than as evidenced by this year. During the pandemic, classrooms were remote…meaning a reliance on technology. You, like me, are probably too old to recognize the need for technology in our schools. In order for our students to have a footing in the near future…we most equip them with the best tools available. I am sad that you equate providing the best opportunities for our islands’ children as a “song and dance routine.” But I will happily do what I can…and will vote YES for this levy…while singing and dancing.
Andrew Stephens – How about we look at the school budget like adults and not take on even more debt? The ’20-’21 budget has $603,147 projected for INTEREST PAYMENTS. That is the cost of not living within your budget. The proposed levy is supposed to raise $500,000 per year, which is not enough to cover the interest on the loans (levies) already taken out. And the new levy adds even more to the interest payments. The hole is simply getting deeper.
With school attendance projected to stay the same or decrease slightly, please tell me EXACTLY what a “technology budget” is going to be used for. All I see is hand waving and generalizations. The school’s share of my property tax bill is already $1151.15 – You say, “This is not the time to cut the technology budget!” Perhaps that is true. Perhaps it is not. I have seen zero evidence presented that we need to spend $3,000,000 on undefined “technology upgrades”
Janet . . . I manage to use a computer just fine, despite having attended a public school that had ZERO computers. I suspect that whatever schools you attended were pre-computer as well. My point is that children need to be taught to think critically, based on a PRIMARY foundation of basic education. Yes, that means basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. They can learn whatever software program they might need later. Teach them to THINK, not just to push buttons.
I will also be singing and dancing as I vote to support this levy. The children are our future and as such deserve our full support. Thank you Kate, Chris, Andrew and Janet for your recognition of this.
Sounds like Ken wants to raise taxes on vaca rentals to help pay for school upgrades instead of raising the local’s property taxes. Sounds good to me. Let’s make vaca rentals commercial property and tax the hell out of them for our kids, community and local hotels/BnBs that are getting screwed by the competition. Wonderful idea. How many kids do you have in the local school Ken? I bet none… by the sound of it. Support the whole island instead of just yourself.
RR Davis – I don’t believe we are on a first name basis and given your preference for argumentum ad hominem, we never will be. You have zero knowledge of me and my family and if you care to comment on this forum, I suggest you stick to the topic.
It is pretty common around the country for schools to have to have to go to the voters every year for increased funds. Too often, the students are used as pawns in this endeavor to get the programs funded. When will we decide that education should be funded through State taxes, assuring parity in funding and opportunity for all students, and not rely on the local annual sympathy plea?
Yes Ken, lets look at this like adults, the 600K in the budget is for debt service on BONDS (very different than a Levy)! Think of that Bond like borrowing money to buy a house or a new roof, garage, deck, etc… I don’t have many if any friends who can buy a house without a loan (that is basically what the school has done – with the approval of the voting community)… That is what we are paying off for the next 15+ years for the main capital improvements to the school. This Tech Levy is not a loan, there is no loan being added!… we are living within our means by NOT borrowing in this situation! I am with Janet and Ed, singing and dancing … Over and out from Down Town Doe Bay!!!
Our kids, our community, our future. That says it all. We need to support our schools and keep current in this ever changing world. This past year underlines that. I am in fully support passing this levy.