To the editor:
I hope my Normandy Park neighbors will carefully consider the benefits of passing the Highline School District Proposition 1.   Highline residents have not passed a levy for 10 years and prior to that there were many years when levy after levy failed.  Anyone suggesting that our school district is at fault for not properly maintaining our aging schools after years of neglected funding is woefully unaware why supporting our schools now is so crucial.

Asking the owner of a house assessed at $500,000 to pay $33 more per month in annual property tax is not unreasonable.  No one likes paying higher taxes but everyone likes having higher property values and the quality of our school district directly impacts property values.  If our schools don’t measure up to schools in surrounding cities, Normandy Park loses potential buyers to Mercer Island, Bellevue and others areas with highly ranked school districts. 

Providing the best possible education for our future leaders is wise since today’s students will determine our future when we are no longer able to make those decisions for ourselves.  Refusing to support our schools is very short sighted.  Perhaps we can learn from communities who have already discovered that if you don’t want to pay to build new schools you will ultimately pay more to build new prisons.  The choice you make will affect everyone for many years to come.

Vicki Johnson,
Normandy Park