Regarding the Aug. 12 letter, “Rethink removal of police at schools”: The assignment of a full-time police officer at Snohomish High School in 2011 didn’t prevent the tragic, near-fatal stabbing of the student victim. It was the heroic actions of fellow students, staff, EMT personnel, and doctors who saved her life. And it was the superintendent of Snohomish schools, not the city, that decided the officer’s $100,000-plus cost per year wold be better spend reducing elementary class sizes — with which I agree.
Throwing hard-earned taxypayer dollars willy-nilly at the “education system” to reach the goal of getting students a college degree is naive thinking.
The “Batman/Joker” alleged mass killer in Colorado got a Phi Beta Kappa science degree from a California university; yet upon graduation he couldn’t get a jog, even at McDonald’s. So. like a lot of others in the same boat, he enrolled in graduate school to get a $26,000 per year stipend — paid for by the taxpayers — you and me.
Increasing Snohomish’s overall property tax levy rate — now at 13.8 mills, an all-time high — should not be an option.
The school district should look for further efficiencies, such as lengthening the school year and returning to the basics in instruction and eliminating frills. I’m sure the general public could come up with a hundred ideas to save money, while at the same time improving education.
Reforming the entire taxing system to make it more equitable should be a priority.
Morgan Davis
Snohomish
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