Something is happening out there.
While unemployment remains high and the economy down, folks are not looking inward and holding tight to their wallets. They’re passing school levies. They are thinking about the importance of the next generation of kids, other peoples’ kids, for the most part.
Ballots were counted all over the state yesterday, and all over the state yesterday the results were pretty much the same. School levies passed. In Seattle. In Vancouver. In Yakima. In Everett and Edmonds.
And the words school officials were using were “stellar” and “stupendous.” The support in many cases was well over the 60 percent mark. In Seattle, it was more than 71 percent in favor of two measures worth more than $700 million to pay for improved classroom offerings and construction projects.
So legislators, listen up. See that you take this lesson to heart. Your constituents are willing to open their wallets and hearts because they know the value of education to restart the economy and build futures. When it comes to funding K-12 and higher education in the state budget, see that you do the same.
— Rita Hibbard
