In regard to the most recent article on the Centralia school levy’s probable failure, some people asked the question, why?
My thoughts are, do they really want to know, or was it just an exercise in semantics? There seems to be a deaf ear problem with our culture today when it comes to actually addressing a problem and finding a real solution. Four out of the last five levies have failed, which indicates there is a big problem. I am an advocate of quality education. Ignorance and illiteracy are not an option if civilization is to survive.
What is happening here is not an isolated case in America. Levies are a gauge of both the value given to the districts and received by the people who pay for them. In spite of some fine teachers in public schools, many districts continue to decline both academically and in the number of students graduated. Both colleges and vocational schools are filled with remedial education classes to get students up to par. This does not bode well with the voters. There is a reason why many parents have pulled their kids out of the public system for private, parochial, cooperative and homeschooling options. Where charter schools exist, parents are beating down the door to get their kids in. Many states are pursuing tax vouchers so that educational money follows the student and not any school system. These alternative educational systems eliminate some things, like interference by the state and the teachers' unions in influencing the curriculum, while engaging in state-approved cultural indoctrinations.
The unions and the state have both made the public system the poster child for "we know what's best for our kids," and, “oh, by the way they are our kids.” That does not go over well with parents where it's been tried. Recently, a school district in Thurston County opted to cancel music classes for students and a member of the school board claimed it was because music is racist, which is absurd. The truth was really their own fiscal stupidity led to the lack of funding.
There are too many school boards, administrators and teachers preaching the virtues of pastel shade and pretending A is not A. It is not just the economic cost the levies impose upon property owners, though that too, will influence these levies soon as we now face severe economic times.
James Goddard
Centralia
