Just as certain as winter rain, the Highline School District is running another tax measure, a construction bond on March 14.

The current submittal is the second part of a $300 million bond we rejected a few years ago. Then, voters overwhelmingly rejected the bond on a majority vote. Subsequently the District coerced a lower value bond from us concomitant with a new wintertime election campaign. The bond amounted to about $189 million. Think about this. As I recollect, the eventual debt load sought by the District is about $500 million.

Does this mean the District is burgeoning with new students that require new space to relieve overflow classrooms? Does it mean greater competence in teaching our youngsters so they will perform better than now? Of course not.

We know about declining enrollment at Highline and the dismal record of achievement and graduation. We also know good teachers who could teach in a broom closet and get results. We have experienced them.

Are we just prettying up the District with new buildings? Sadly money is what education has become.

The bond is about getting from us, in the words of Rep. Schual-Berke when she was a School Board Director, "tax to the limits of the law."

Collectively by District, our properties are worth a given number of dollars. From this pool of value the Legislature has set a cap on taxes that can be levied by the school district. The District goal is to, in Schual-Berke’s words, "tax to the limits of the law."

Ultimately, one is left with the spectacle of a school district that has perfect buildings that no ordinary students can attend because their parents cannot afford to live here.

Paul Willoughby

Tukwila