To the editor:

In 2002, the HSDB asked us to approve a bond for $148 Million.….and we did.
In 2006, the HSDB asked us to approve a bond for $189 Million......and we did.

Now the HSDB is asking us to approve a bond for an additional $385 Million to be paid off in 2035 which would extend the life of the first two bonds costing more than originally stated. This means that with the combination of the 3 Bonds, we will have paid the HSDB close to One Billion Dollars by the year 2035, if this passes! It represents a 60% increase in our school property tax.

The HSDB wants us to believe that all we would be paying is $1.12 per $1000 Assessed Property Valuation (APV). THIS IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE!

The Bonds we approved in 2002 and 2006 taxes us at $1.88 per $1000 APV. We are also paying a Maintenance and Operations Levy (M & O) which taxes us at $3.80 per $1000 APV for a total of $5.66 per $1000 APV. This amount increases with the approval of this new Bond! No one is immune to this increase. Landlords will raise rents and the cost of consumer goods will rise. Aren't there enough empty storefronts?

In addition, the Maintenance and Operation Levy will be on the ballot again in 2015 when it increases from $45 million to $49 million dollars.

With the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Highline School District has already received, our schools should be in better condition. They did not deteriorate overnight. This is due to the Highline School District's poor decision making and fiscal irresponsibility!

Superintendent Susan Enfield's salary is $228,000 a year and she recently received a $75,000.00 raise, but rats continue to run through our students classrooms. There is a lack of maintenance due to her cutting maintenance staff and budgets so that the schools would fall apart and the Highline School District Board could ask us for more money. Her Public Relations budget is almost $700,000 and every year it increases by 16%. Where is the accountability for all of our hard earned money?

With a poor academic rating of 4 out of 10 from Greatschools.org, the lowest of averages, the focus needs to be on our children’s academic success instead of HSDB building monuments to themselves!

When will it end? When we do what the Lake Washington and Kitsap County School Districts did and Vote NO! HSDB has done a terrible job with the stewardship of our funds and have given the students short shrift. It is time our voices are heard with a NO! VOTE.

MORE MONEY DOES NOT MEAN BETTER SCHOOLS!

Laura and John Castronover
SSOS, Sensible Spending on Our Schools, 17837 1st Ave.So. #276, Normandy Park, WA 98148