Tahoma students need you to vote on the Replacement Levy on April 23rd. They want you to vote YES. You may want to vote YES or No, but vote.
About 17% of Tahoma School District’s general budget is this Replacement Levy. Not new taxes, this is just a reauthorization of an existing tax, increased a bit due to inflation. 85% of the Replacement Levy funds people – salaries and benefits. 15% funds equipment, supplies, utilities, and facilities. Vote down the levy and the District will have no choice but to cut programs.
Programs, not a homework sheet or test, motivate children to learn and stay in school, to connect with friends and make new ones, to avoid drugs, alcohol and crime, to be mentored by their teachers, to grow and mature. The long list of programs that will be on the chopping block if the levy fails is described in the brochure mailed recently to every Tahoma School District residence and at https://www.tahomasd.us/our_district/april_2024_replacement_levy
Back when I was a Director on the School Board, I was on a mission to “cut waste.” I looked and looked for four years – it was part of my job to be a good steward of your tax dollars. I didn’t find any waste. Programs were cut when funding was gone, but there was not one program benefiting students that could be identified as waste or nonessential. It would be nice if the State of Washington fully funded public education, but it does not. It never has. Tahoma expenses for each student in the District rank in the bottom third of all 20 King County school districts, an indication of the exercise of frugality with your tax dollars.
Are you mad because the District really blew it with the Neyers case? Who wouldn’t be? Voting against the levy to “make a statement” hurts the children we all want to protect – current students in the District – but does not do a thing to effect positive change. The Board of Directors has already heard your voices and taken action. The Neyers case is settled. The people who were in the position to stop his abuse directly or as a policy maker have left the District. The District is moving forward on a top-to-bottom assessment of what went wrong and how to fix it. Health education curriculums K-12 are being integrated in that assessment with abuse prevention education in mind. Have you met the new superintendent, Dr. Ginger Callison? She was available to you at the meetings held last week to explain the Replacement Levy to the public and is looking to hit the ground running when she starts as superintendent on July 1st.
One of our least favorite things is to pay taxes. Most of us pay taxes and reserve the right to complain. Some people prefer to grouse about what is not but should be. To be effective if you have more to say and want the School Board to hear and respond to it, e-mail them at SchoolBoard@TahomaSD.US [a designated School Board Director will respond directly to you] or come to a regular school board meeting in the Central Services Board Room and present your concerns during the public comment period. Meetings are held at 6:30 pm on the 2nd & 4th Tuesdays of each month, with some exceptions. E-mail individual Directors – their e-mail addresses are on the District’s website. This School Board wants to hear from you.
Our School Board directors want no more scandals and just chose the first woman to be Tahoma’s permanent superintendent. She’s way above past superintendents: In 1992-3, the superintendent resigned after scandals of his own making were revealed; the Neyers situation developed during the next superintendent’s tenure. Next up was a superintendent whose sexual abuse history was not revealed during the hiring process, so he quickly left. After an interim superintendent was brought out of retirement for a school year, Mike Hanson became superintendent, a transitional leader who settled litigation and started the District on a path toward healing and rebuilding. His December departure gave the District a clean slate for moving forward.
Ask your kids or the kids down the street. Do you think Tahoma’s students will appreciate your consideration of approving this Replacement Levy and giving their incoming superintendent the support and opportunity to make this District top-notch, where every student is given the opportunity and support to reach his/her full potential? Your ballots are coming in the mail soon. Whatever you think, if you vote you will make your opinion about supporting public education here in Maple Valley heard.
Jennifer C. Rydberg is a retired attorney, grandmother, and mother of two sons who attended Tahoma schools. She served a term on the Tahoma School District Board of Directors 1991-1995 including 1 year as its President.
