As for the school bond election, we now know how much money the school district is asking for and what they are spending it on. Nothing on the list is for immediate needs that will be used to continue a good education for Blaine County students.
According to the new superintendent, the district will not be able to maintain a low student-to-teacher ratio if the levy is not approved. I didn't see anything on the wish list for maintaining the present staff. It was also recently reported that student test scores were up. This was achieved without the levy and with the present very generous annual budget.
It was also reported that enrollment was down and we could delay building a new school by years. We don't know but enrollment will probably stay steady or go down in the future with the present economy and job losses.
Blaine County does not have the best school district in the country. We can't afford it. The school district needs to concentrate more on surviving the next few years with the very poor economy on the budget they have in place. They need to sharpen the No. 2 pencil and cut spending as we all have had to do. Everyone has a wish list and most of us have had to put that list away for a while.
I want to reaffirm that the levy will raise property taxes. Proof is that your property taxes will be higher if the levy passes than if it does not. Look at your property taxes and you will see that we pay 68 percent of our property taxes to the school district. The students in Blaine County are getting an excellent education. The school district is obligated to continue that excellence and can easily do so without extra spending. I urge everybody to vote no on frivolous spending by the Blaine County School District.
Jerry Hayward
Bellevue
