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OUR OPINION
Neither of my parents graduated from college. My mother graduated with her LPN in nursing from Columbia Basin College and dad went to farrier school.
Fascinating, you may be thinking drolly to yourself. What does this have to do with the West Bonner School District levy coming to the polls May 20?
Regardless of their own scholastic level, my parents and much of the rural community I grew up in believed in public education. It was considered a part of one’s civic duty to support educational institutions that provide equal opportunities for every child, not just the wealthy or those who could get a scholarship to a private school.
This coming Tuesday, voters in West Bonner County will decide whether to approve the $2,353,440.60 per year for two years, supplemental maintenance and operations levy (for said voters, please see your closest polling place in this week’s levy story).
A failed levy will most likely mean the closure of Oldtown and Priest Lake elementary schools, as well as a reduction in staff, including school nurses, psychologists and a school resource officer, and a further reduction in extracurricular activities including sports that would still require a pay-to-play admission. Just to name a few.
It’s not a stretch to say West Bonner County is a divided community, with those for and against the levy equally adamant in their positions. One could make the argument, as many anti-levy proponents have, that the school district should have had better transparency and communication in their past and especially moving forward as they try to rebuild trust in the community. That is a standard that all government entities should be held to.
But for the past several years educators and staff at West Bonner have had an uphill battle against misinformation, including claims that school curriculum maintains a “woke” agenda (which is little more than a matador-red-cape word to incite outrage and fear), and two failed levies in less than a year.
According to the Education Data Initiative, Idaho schools spend the least of all states on public education and ranks 50th in K-12 funding. A fact at odds with a state legislature that claims it cares much about youth, but that’s a series of columns for another time.
I think of all the adults who I never met, but had an active participation in my childhood, voting in favor of school levies, volunteering their time and sometimes donating money out of their own pockets to support my education and make it as well-rounded as possible. One doesn’t need to have a child enrolled in public school to understand that those children will grow up to take our place, to govern, to caretake, to work. Why would we not support them every way we can?
SOPHIA MATTICE-ALDOUS IS A MURROW NEWS FELLOW WORKING DIRECTLY WITH NEWSROOMS AT RANGE MEDIA AND THE NEWPORT MINER NEWSPAPERS THROUGH A PROGRAM ADMINISTERED BY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY. HER REPORTING IS AVAILABLE FOR USE VIA CREATIVE COMMONS WITH CREDIT.
