A School Makes a Community

I remember playing basketball at Priest River and there sometimes only being 30 people in the crowd, or school fundraisers that we actually lost money putting on. The other day I was told that only 27 people showed up to support Priest River Lamanna High School’s drama production of Cinderella and it was only a few weeks before that I learned that our levy didn’t pass. I am shocked at the lack of support for the schools in our community. A school district directly reflects the strength of a town and when a community isn’t doing everything they can to make the district the greatest it can be a town truly suffers.

            Students shouldn’t have to be standing on street corners or going door to door to persuade people to vote for their schools to get adequate funding. It should be a no brainer. Our schools and its administration and teachers and the programs we offer are what build really great kids into outstanding adults and these kids, when they are proud of their education, will come back and continue to support our town; but only if we support them.

            When we look at the ballot and see the word “millions”, it can be daunting.  However, those millions of dollars aren’t coming out of your pocket. In fact, no money is coming out of your pocket. There is no tax increase with the new levy proposed.

            The levy currently proposed is the bare minimum that the district can budget and keep the school scraping by. It’s not as if the district is making frivolous spending choices or unnecessary remodels. Funding things like a new heating and broiler system or a water line repair keeping our libraries and technology updated and relevant is extremely important to the safety and the adequate education of our children.

            I know that the co-curricular activity argument is used a lot, but that’s because co-curricular activities are just as important to the schooling system as all of the others budget items. It is nearly impossible to get into college with just good grades anymore. You have to be an involved student and when a town initiates pay to play or completely eliminates extra curricular, it is actually impairing students for success. If it is out their that their community doesn’t support them and more and more of their opportunities to achieve greatness are taken away, our kids get discouraged and are unlikely to show pride in our community themselves.

            If you are a skeptic please visit the district website and take five minutes to review the facts. We need to step up as a town and help our kids be happy, successful, and proud. Vote yes for the May 20^th levy.