Soon the community of Sequim will vote on whether or not to replace the existing Sequim School District levy. The issue is whether we as a community will continue to fund our public schools.

If you can read this, chances are you learned how from a teacher whose salary was paid with someone else's tax dollars. Of course, that alone is not a reason to vote yes on the replacement levy.

Only after you were taught how to read could you apply this new skill to your courses, including civics. After your first civics course and with guidance from teachers, you began to learn how governments are formed and how they operate. Additionally, you learned of the greatest democracy in the history of the world.

With each year of elementary school, then secondary school, that educational foundation grew. Only after this foundation was formed could you begin to credibly criticize or support our government and its many roles. One role of government - public education - likely existed in your life at an early age. It was this very institution that would turn you into an educated citizen who could vote on how our government should be applied. Public education remains the building block of any democratic society.



Dollars stay in district

This levy has nothing to do with how you feel or think about international, national or even state politics. All levy dollars collected in the Sequim School District go directly to Sequim schools. This is as local as an issue can be. We, as a community, have the privilege of deciding if we want to properly fund our schools or not.

Local levies are, in part, how Washingtonians fund local school districts. Of the 295 school districts, 280 have a school levy. In fact, every school district on the Olympic Peninsula has a local levy, including Sequim. However, Sequim's levy is about to expire and that is why we are voting to replace it or not. No matter how you vote on the replacement levy, you should at least support the democratic system that allows this issue to be a choice of the people by voting. This is the same democratic process that you learned about at a young age when you were still in school because somebody else thought your education was worth paying for.



Costly consequences

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to economize." If you think the levy is expensive, I urge you to look at the actual dollars that you will pay based upon your individual property value, then measure them against the cost of providing an underfunded, inadequate education to the youths in our community.

Either pay now for the education or pay later for the

consequences.

The last and highest rate of the proposed three-year replacement levy calls for a rate of $1.40/thousand, which is still 22-percent less than the current statewide average. That proposed rate is also 38-percent under the current Port Angeles levy rate of $2.26/thousand.

If the levy does not pass, Sequim will be the only district on the Olympic Peninsula without this essential levy funding. For a community as great as Sequim, the funding gap compared to our neighboring districts just doesn't make sense.



The kids can't vote

Why should we vote "yes" for the levy? One reason is because the kids can't vote. It is up to us. If somebody else had not paid for my basic education, then my life as an adult would be very different. Based on the education I received, I know that it is my turn to repay that debt.

I will not vote "yes" for the replacement levy because I learned to read and write in school. I will vote "yes" for the replacement levy because I want to invest in Sequim and its children.

The children truly are our future.

Someday these children may vote on issues as great as my health care. I hope that they are well educated and understand the meaning of community.



Pat McMenamin is a Sequim attorney.