Please don’t take the ill-advised advice given in the recent letter to the editor, “Don’t vote for the supplemental levy.” As someone who served two terms on the Northshore School Board, I know that this board is painfully aware of the current economic situation because they have felt the pinch in both decreased funding and increased unfunded state mandates. During my eight years on the board (from 1994-2001), every year we sliced away at an already trim budget. (I remember one audit in which the district was actually criticized for having too few administrators!) I cannot even begin to imagine the sleepless nights the current board, superintendent and administrators have experienced trying to find ways to “trim” even more.

While I, too, wish our state legislature would fully fund its paramount obligation, the education of our children, the fact is that it does not and has not for some time. So the argument that relying on special levies only encourages the state legislature to continue to inadequately fund education is short-sighted, at best.

Tough times make for tough choices, but they can also make for an opportunity for a community to show its true and best self. This community has prided itself on placing a high priority on our children and their education. Let’s prove it by supporting the Northshore School District and voting “yes” on the supplemental levy.

Kirby Larson