Once again the Everett School District has placed the previously defeated $259 million bond issue on the ballot. Over the last many years the voters have significantly increased school spending, but has there been a corresponding increase in results? We have had pre-WASL, WASL, post-WASL, No Child Left Behind, Common Core and STEM with each previous program cast into the dust bin of history.
The Everett School District spent about $28 million on a new administration building, while in the 2014 Bond Resolution points to deferred maintenance items such as buckets under sinks, scratches on walls, elevator and bathroom stall doors, random chairs and tables in the high school cafeteria, exterior doors that do not close properly, randomly arranged tables and chairs in an apparently usable chemistry lab as partial justification for the bond issue.
While they say that the tax rate will remain the same, if you take the increased property valuation for 2014 and multiply it by the tax rate it amounts to about a 10 percent increase in school taxes in future years. As it looks like property valuations increase even further in 2015 the increase will be even larger.
Pete Nelson
Mill Creek
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