Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right

Op-Ed by Malorie Larson, Shoreline, WA 98133

Reminder: Ballots are due Tuesday, February 10th, by 8 pm. Please use a ballot box to avoid USPS postmarking delays and ensure your vote counts! The Washington Secretary of State's Office cautions voters: Do not use a mailbox within 7-10 days of the election due to recent USPS rule changes.

Two wrongs don’t make a right. We learned this in elementary school. Yes, the state is negligent in its primary duty to fully fund K-12 education in Washington State. However, also failing to support the local replacement EP&O and technology levies only hurts our community’s children and sends a message to them that their friends, families, and neighbors aren’t willing to invest in them.

Even a replacement levy proposition with a lower dollar figure puts the district in the position to make impossible choices:

Do they increase class sizes to unmanageable levels, thereby decreasing the quality of student learning, and send our veteran, highly qualified teachers to nearby school districts?

Do they cut supports for students and families, such as deans of students, security staff, counselors, family advocates, and/or full-time school nurses? This, at a time when members of our community are fearing for their safety, experiencing food insecurity, and “COVID kids” are coming to school with more behavioral needs than ever before?

Do they cut athletics, arts, or other extracurricular activities? These are the things that augment Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, making students whole, keeping them engaged in their schooling, and attracting homebuyers and other families to the Shoreline School District.

Do they continue educating students in 2030 with literacy curriculum from the early 2000s, rather than giving our children modern, research-based instruction that benefits not only their short-term educational needs but also their long-term success in accessing information, communicating, and thinking critically about information they receive?

Do the right thing: vote yes for the replacement EP&O and technology levies AND contact your legislators to advocate for better education funding for students in Shoreline schools and across Washington State.