State provides enough support; vote no on Marysville levy

As a native of the state and long time resident of Snohomish County, living in the Marysville School District, my foster children have attended Marysville schools and more recently, so have their children.

I am asking you to vote no on the Marysville School District’s levy this February. We need to send a message to the district that they need to seriously adjust their priorities and use the funds already provided by the state in a more fiscally responsible manner. Taxpayers are not their sugar daddy! Our property tax bills will arrive right after this vote, and they will reflect last year’s assessed value of real estate, which was exploding.

Despite prior levies that were passed with a very low percentage of voters even participating, the Marysville student performance scores continue to be among the poorest in the region. They are failing our students regardless of funds.

The district has not allocated funds toward the priorities that actually educate our children to become functional adults. They don’t even provide paper and pencils for children to do their school work but ask the students to bring the “necessary school supplies” on the first day of school. This is an unaffordable and unfair burden to especially lower income families when the state is supposed to provide the funds required for public school education. (A majority of the district’s enrolled students qualify for free lunches, based on family income.)

Perhaps it is time to switch to school vouchers and allow parents to choose which school their child attends, public or private.

Please vote Feb. 14. Vote No on the Marysville school levy. For more details, go to LevyNO.com.

Ruth Brandal

Lake Stevens