TAXES: Reader calls for better funding of education

In a recent guest editorial ("Making sure tolls are not a tax," CBH, October 6, 2011) Tim Eyman stated that raising taxes should only be "an absolute last resort." When looking at the finances of our local schools, we are in a situation of last resort.

We fail to fund our K-12 schools even during good times. Jog-a-thons and Box Tops are not good things. They are proof that our schools are under funded year after year. Now that the state is cutting the budget, our schools face a grim reality: each year we have more students and less money. Some people seem to think that education is like sunshine falling free from the skies.

Actually, taxes are not the "absolute last resort." There is one more option available: we could cut back on the number of students. If a school is faced with cutting a quarter of their budget, perhaps they should just cut a quarter of their enrollment instead. Perhaps a quarter of the population should be left illiterate with no mathematical skills, no knowledge of history, no knowledge of science, and no knowledge of the world. It seems that funding education is a low priority for Washington voters. You should get what you pay for. If you don't want to pay for education, then you shouldn't get one. By passing last year's Initiative 1107, Washington voters rejected a modest tax on soda pop and candy bars used to fund education. Since voters would rather have slightly cheaper soda pop and candy bars, perhaps that's all they should get.

Dennis Knepp

Moses Lake