Future generations deserve our support

Each time a school levy is floated, I question why we are forced to do this. The county doesn't ask the voters every two years for money to keep up the roads or pay for sheriff's deputies. Cities don't ask voters to approve money for parks or police.

Schools are equally essential to the life of a community, but we need voter approval to continue our daily operations. On the other hand, maybe it's a good thing. It gives school supporters a chance to remind the larger community about the importance of what goes on in the classroom and how what happens there matters to all of us.

At Sandpoint Middle School, teachers are engaging students in the excitement of learning. Visitors to the school notice two things: the age of the school and the energy of the students, teachers and staff.

I have always looked on what we do a educators as a kind of community service. We are not separate enclave, taking care of the children. We are connected to the community in the most fundamental way — educating the next generation.

Please do your part in this school-community connection by voting "yes" on the school levy on March 20.

KIM KEATON

Sandpoint