Primary: ‘No’ to levy with obscene school salaries

On Aug. 17 the Edmonds School District is asking voters to approve a second levy this year. They tried to spin the levy last February as a “renewal” even though property taxes will increase every year. If approved, God forbid, it is fairly certain that they will be back in four years asking to renew this levy. We taxpayers must demand accountability and fiscal responsibility from the district before approving anymore levies or bonds. On May 18, The Herald ran an article stating the ridiculous salaries earned by county school superintendents. At $216,610, Edmonds’ Nick Brossoit is paid a higher salary than Gov. Chris Gregoire! There is no way to justify that kind of pay for a school superintendent.

In the July 14 Enterprise, letter writer Peter Boonstra stated some very interesting and unflattering facts about the school district. Enrollment is down while cost per student is up, yet testing scores are flat. Yearly class time is dubious with the district not meeting the state requirements for full class days for students. The obscene pay for administrative positions is what really jumped out at me. According to the fact stated by Mr. Boonstra, there are 60 district administration employees earning over $100,000 annually. That is outrageous. They come whining to voters to support levies when they are paying administrators that kind of money.

In a rebuttal, and typical political spin, district spokesperson Debbie Jakala’s letter, “Edmonds schools: Let’s get the facts straight,” stated that they need to pay those salaries to attract quality people. That is a laugh. We heard the same spin from Wall Street and the big banks recently. They were being bailed out with tax dollars and yet they were still paying their CEOs and executives ridiculous salaries. I see no difference here. Now is the time to say enough is enough!

Donald Baker

Lynnwood