Cheney bond passage doesn't nullify some key questions
As predicted, the educational bond passed handily by the citizens of Cheney School District. The developers on Cedar Road and out by the golf course appreciate your vote.
After reading the letter to the editor comments, writers still don't get it. I acknowledged the need for more classroom space. Just because someone expresses a different opinion about an education vote doesn't make them anti-education. It indicates they are not just voting robots, and looking at deeper issues.
Each letter had one basic theme; we need to have the best educational environment possible. More classrooms mean a better educational environment. That may be true, but crowding doesn't mean less or poorer education. It means some students and teachers are inconvenienced.
Eight portables do indicate poor planning and overcrowding. And for the record, I did travel the halls of the junior high building for the first two years of its existence, so I know the building's limitations. As far as knowing education, I have two parents that were teachers and a grandfather that taught at Eastern. My comments weren't about educational environment, but about strategic planning and how our educational taxation system works.
The question should be why? Why did it get to the point of over-crowding? As a Seattle court ruled recently the primary function of the state is funding public education. Adequate buildings are pretty basic education in my book.
Why did we have an off cycle election? Why don't we think out of the box on educational funding? Why do we have a system that has everyone paying for education instead of the growth creators?
Look at our district boundaries; we pay for students who overlook Spokane River. A school board member said Spokane is coming over the hill, so why are Cheney taxpayers paying for Spokane's education?
I observed the background of the letters' writers and realize they aren't that objective. We let emotions rule our views and voting. The sad thing is by the time the new schools are finished, those children will be in high school and we'll have to build a new one of those. By the way, did I write that I voted for the bond?
Chip Magnuson
Four Lakes
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