Community benefits from levy's approval
March 20, 2007, is a date that all citizens of Lake Pend Oreille School District No. 84 should have circled on their calendars. This is the date on which the voters in the district will have the opportunity to tell the school board that they are willing to support the supplemental levy that replaces the current levy that will expire on June 30, 2007.
Idaho currently spend in excess of $60,000 a year to incarcerate a felon in a maximum security prison. It is somehow ironic then, that this same state can only provide slightly more than $6,000 per student per year for education in the K-12 public school system. The net result of this apparent disparity is that the citizens of the LPOSD and all of the other districts in the state must supplement the school budget through voter-approved levies in order to provide the level of education necessary to prepare the children of the district for the ever changing world they will be entering after high school.
A quality education is the most important gift we can provide for the children of the county, but it is not inexpensive.
The cost of educating today's children to prepare them for the challenges they will face in an ever more complex world is enormous. The cost to society for failing to meet these educational needs will be even ore costly over time, resulting in a work force unable or ill-equipped to meet the challenges of the workplace they will be entering.
There will likewise be reluctance on the part of new industries to relocate into a community that cannot provide an educated and skilled workforce.
Approval of this levy will result in a minimal increase in taxes.
The increase for a $300,000 property with a homeowner's exemption will amount to $2.96 per month.
This is a modest increase when compared to the benefits that the students and the citizens o the district will receive by having a fully uncting school system.
I, therefore, urge all of the voting public in the district to get out and vote and support the levy.
RICHARD CREED
Sagle