To the citizens of Marysville and Tulalip, it is past time to pass a school bond! For a variety of reasons, too many school-age children in Marysville have for too long existed in physical learning environments that are below standard. I have worked in the district for 34 years and in that time only two inadequate bonds have passed. You would have a hard time finding another district, which builds a new high school while leaving the older high school without plans for an upgrade. How can we tell almost half of our high school students that they do not deserve as much as those across town? As other local districts have built and grown we have remained stagnant. Even though our students and staff work as hard as any, we come up short when it comes to providing a positive physical environment for our students. Why? Don’t our kids deserve the same opportunities?

We are behind in our building, and it necessary to make the hard decision to invest in the future of our local community. It has been proven that students given bright, new facilities learn more and show more pride. We also can now build and create schools with safer, more secure surroundings. It is time to give our students a better chance to succeed. So many of our buildings are just at the end of usefulness and unable to provide the type of environment necessary. The upcoming bond election on April 26 is a chance to take a huge and necessary step for this community.

If you are not convinced, it is time to consider your own home. How? Property values! One of the biggest factors affecting local home values is the street appeal, condition and reputation of schools. Everyone knows young parents looking for new homes will consider the quality of schools when making such a big decision.

All you have to do is drive by the new elementary schools in Lakewood, Arlington, Stanwood to compare.

There is no reason for this as Marysville offers a better location to jobs south and more services than all those communities. We have a stable local government, great parks and recreation board and a building business structure that will continue to lead to economic growth if our schools become part of the plan.

We have wonderful opportunities here. The schools must almost be part of that growth. We must take advantage of this opportunity and support the students of Marysville and Tulalip.

This is a good plan. Please vote YES on Schools!

Randy Davis is president of the Marysville Education Association.