School levies

I was talking to a teacher today at school and I was informed that the teachers were very concerned about the upcoming levy that is being proposed for the February 2010 ballot. It is a replacement levy that will pay for Operations and Maintenance, Technology, and Transportation costs. The total of this levy would be $2.35/$1000 of the assessed value of each house. So here is how it will break down for you. If your house is assessed at
$300,000 your share is $705.
$400,000 your share is $940.
$500,000 your share is $1,175.
$600,000 your share is $1410.
While I could start to talk about how the federal government has no constitutional right to be involved in education and is actually prohibited by the U.S. Constitution from being involved in education, I am actually going to talk about the state. Washington State's Constitution specifically says that the states first priority is to fund education. That's it, education first. Whatever is left can be used as the government pleases. We should not be asking citizens for extra money for education because we are already paying for it through our other taxes. We should be holding our state officials responsible for properly funding education and for failing our children by not following the mandates of the state Constitution. We should be writing our Representatives, Senators and the Governor and urging them to properly fund education.
That being said, we have a great district and wonderful schools in Duvall. These hard working educators need our support and they need us to work with them. So here is my little contradiction for the day. Vote yes on the levy and then get our state leaders to make sure we never have to vote for another one.