Tacoma schools asking voters to approve $500 million bond measure
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TACOMA, Wash. -- Parents in the Tacoma School District say schools are falling apart and putting their health at risk.
The district says it has received 29 complaints of poor air and mold. The district is now turning to voters for a change.
At Stewart Middle School, a knobless closet is matted with mold. Walls pucker from busted pipes. And when it rains, it pours inside.
"In the rainy season, we tend to have a lot of leaks indoors," said Janet Gates-Cortez.
The district estimates the 88-year-old school needs $58 million in repairs.
And Stewart isn't alone. Across the district, officials say 14 schools need major repairs or complete remodel. But those fixes come with a big price tag.
"It's a $500 million bond measure," said Don Voelpel of the Tacoma School District
The district says the key to student success is for voters to unlock money by approving the bond in February.
"The cost to the average homeowner is about $60 a year, or $2.95 a month, above what it would take to just keep the schools running and functioning," said Voelpel.
The district says 30 percent of its students in high school drop out, and new facilities will boost enrollment district.
Similar construction bond measures have failed in 2006 and 2009. A preliminary vote is scheduled for next week. A final vote is set for Feb. 12.
The district says it has received 29 complaints of poor air and mold. The district is now turning to voters for a change.
At Stewart Middle School, a knobless closet is matted with mold. Walls pucker from busted pipes. And when it rains, it pours inside.
"In the rainy season, we tend to have a lot of leaks indoors," said Janet Gates-Cortez.
The district estimates the 88-year-old school needs $58 million in repairs.
And Stewart isn't alone. Across the district, officials say 14 schools need major repairs or complete remodel. But those fixes come with a big price tag.
"It's a $500 million bond measure," said Don Voelpel of the Tacoma School District
The district says the key to student success is for voters to unlock money by approving the bond in February.
"The cost to the average homeowner is about $60 a year, or $2.95 a month, above what it would take to just keep the schools running and functioning," said Voelpel.
The district says 30 percent of its students in high school drop out, and new facilities will boost enrollment district.
Similar construction bond measures have failed in 2006 and 2009. A preliminary vote is scheduled for next week. A final vote is set for Feb. 12.
My question is why are these schools being allowed to get in such a state of disrepair to begin with. Somewhere along the way a few levies to fix these problems would have been a good idea. It seems to me this is a problem of years of neglect. I'm hard pressed however to think that it's only going to cost the average property owner $60 a year. Sucess they say is in getting people to unlock money, well as tax stapped as people are right now perhaps some of them are wondering how to pay their own bills without taking on
more taxes.
Caused by a terrible financial system for public schools. Get salaries under control and just change to a sales tax backed system. @Jatok
I live in Tacoma and I'm voting yes. My two kids have gone to Tacoma schools and I have spent much time volunteering in their classrooms. My son went to the dreaded Stewart Middle school where you couldn't flush a toilet after 11:00 a.m. and it was horrid. He had some great teachers and some not so great. Thank goodness we were able to opt into the beautifully remodeled Stadium High School. My daughter goes to the relatively new Giaudrone where the principal must be putting in 70 hours a week and I see teachers pulling in at six in the morning and out at 6 at night. Despite our residence in the dreaded South Tacoma demographic, my son shockingly graduated and received a scholarship to an out of state college. My daughter appears well on pace to do the same. I will vote yes for the kids who have to attend Stewart. I couldn't get any money for that school when my son was there, but I will vote yes for the kids who go there now and for the students to come.Â
$250,00 a year for the Tacoma superintendent. Dept/ intendants and principles making $150,00 to $200,000 a year. Lot of money wasted in school systems. Get salaries down to a reasonable level and then have the legislatures do their jobs and have them end levies and property taxes and start funding education like it should be, through sales taxes. Levies are an unfair disadvantage on poor people. Greed is killing this country, both through excessive socialism and capitalism.
How far would 58 million go for a new structure versus an old? How many structures does the Tacoma school district have on the books that are being unused? These are just a few questions that need to be answered before I might remotely consider voting yes.
 @firestormÂ
Current unused buildings, which are outdated and out of ADA compliance are McKinley, (which is very close to Blix), Hunt, and Wainwright.
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The old Rogers and Willard are up for sale. Blix replaced Rogers, which is on the far east side of town and is not ADA compliant. Willard closed about 30 years ago as a school (it is located off of 36th and S. D) and was used for the professional development center. McKinley closed last year due to low enrollment and because Blix is located about 1/4 mile down the street from that building. Wainwright also was closed due to low enrollment as well as Hunt. Both Hunt and Wainwright are facing low numbers because a lot of parents are opting to send their kids to neighboring University Place Schools.
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Park Ave is used by the behavioral diagnostic center which houses severely behaviorally disabled kids who have very severe behavioral problems due to abuse, neglect, and mental illnesses. The old Truman is currently used for the professional development center.
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The district can use unused buildings for space while existing schools are torn down or rebuilt. Park Ave School was used when Lister and Sherman were rebuilt. The old Mt Tahoma was reused when Stadium and Lincoln were rebuilt.
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Schools have to be strategically placed in neighborhoods and when there are not enough kids in a neighborhood, you will see low numbers.
"The district says 30 percent of its students in high school drop out, and new facilities will boost enrollment district. "
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While unsafe buildings are worth funding (despite the premium cost that a government project incurs), the notion that new facilities will reduce the drop out rate is laughable.
And this is YEARS worth of PREVENTABLE damage and you are just addressing it now? REALLY???
@DISPATCH911 It might be due to the fact that there hasn't been as much money for basic maintenacne and operations. I do not know what you are paying in levy dollars though or if that funds any instructional programs or not.
You do realize that the schools aren't the only levies the property owner pays right?
Believe me there are people out there right now just trying to keep a roof over their head, hang onto their homes, and pay rent and even a difference of a few dollars a month will put them over the edge financially. This isn't a good time to expect more from these people. I pay plenty of property taxes already and I'm tired of people thinking that my checking account is a never ending source of more money.
 This just shows the mismanagement in schools.What happened to maintenance ?  salaries are excessive,both in teaching and administration. So much so there is no $$ for maintaining the investment.Â
 Sad but the same holds true for our elected representatives. The Progressive Democrats and their social entitlments leave no $$$ for maintaining our roads,parks,energy.
@Maynard G Krebbs Teachers who actually care about student learning earn every dollar they have. For teachers that do care, work comes home since grading 120 essays doesn't take an hour unless certain teachers do not give a crap. If they do give a crap, they will spend at least 8 hours on grading papers.
We are hiring people who wish to have part time work job thru online. You can make as much as $78/per hour and receive as much as $7500 monthly. Please Read and visit this site for more information ... goo.gl/DqlMH
What are taxes going to? Time to do some firing and streamline the education system in this state.
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 @Wickedwitch If you really believe that legalizing marijuana will bring in any money whatsoever, you need to put the joint down NOW. Pot will continue to be sold on the street for less money that the "legal" stuff is because there is less overhead and no taxes.
Legalization of marijuana IS NOT THE ANSWER.   Were is all the Money from the Lottery going? Weren't we told that the money generated would go to schools. Weren't we also told that money from Liquor sales would go to Police and schools as well? You legalized Marijuana you will end up loosing a lot of Federal Funds.  We have to find other ways to get the money like having School Board Members take pay cuts. Also allow small advertisements in schools or naming rights of Stadiums.  Â
I have worked in the Tacoma Schools for years, and the schools they are planning to redo are in need of major repair.
1. An agency receiving federal and state funding must be using each and every building that is ADA compliant; due to state and federal law. The buildings under this plan are not ADA compliant. A loss of state and federal funds is possible when buildings are continually used that are not compliant.
2. If a rewire is considered, to add computer electrical and networking, once you open up walls, building code laws mandate that once walls are open, all systems in those walls, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and structure must be brought up to current building codes. Since schools now have to be earthquake resistant, structure has to be retrofitted to that standard. Water lines also have to be changed, as well as electrical, and HVAC systems.
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3. Boze Elementary School was built with the model of open concept, and the design of the building now requires students to pass through multiple classroom spaces to get to their own space or to the hallway. The large classroom configuration is in a large square, where 4 average sized classrooms use this large space. Noise levels are very high and distractions are very common in this model. Rebuilding requires complete restructuring and adding onto the existing space because the school in its current configuration is a large square instead of a rectangle.
4. Lyon, Stewart, Grant, Washington/Hoyt (Washington and Hoyt are in separate buildings about 1/8 mile apart, where Hoyt houses primary grades and Washington houses 3rd through 5th grades), and Wilson are not totally ADA compliant. SAMI (the new alternative high school) is a collection of portable buildings at Point Defiance Park.
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These open concept schools are another fad idea years ago that cost the taxpayers millions and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it wasn't a good idea.  Careful planning is not a "must" when the school district is using plentiful tax dollars.
 @JatokÂ
An open concept model CAN work well, but it takes a whole different style of teaching than a teacher led method. An open concept style is more student centered and small learning methodology, where the teacher is not the center of attention. In most schools, the teacher leads instruction by teacher telling and students passively listen. When the open concept method was used, it was assumed that students could learn with minimal teacher leading, but what happened was the teaching methods still centered around the teacher, rather than requiring the teacher to focus on individualizing instruction to each and every student as well as teaming with other teachers. Team teaching requires sharing responsibility and abilities of the teaching duties among 2-4 teachers.
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In the open concept class, multiple teachers were to teach a lesson together as a large group, then break into many small groups where students and individual teachers work on individualizing the instruction to those students. Groups of students also were required to assist each other out along with the individual teachers going from small group to  small group.
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Instead, what happened was teachers did not use team teaching as a shared responsibility and group effort, but a single teacher led style which is standard in most classrooms. Teachers also broke the class into average sized class groups, separated themselves and taught the lesson (or tried to) as a standard, teacher led teacher centered class.
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I internned at Purdy ES, also an open concept building and teachers there at the time were not only knowledgeable in team teaching, but also experienced in management of a larger group. A large group of kids usually is noisier and more difficult to manage, however, it takes a different kind of style to manage 132 kids.
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Some of the newer techniques are a requirement; because of the testing requirement. State tests are based off certain educational methods and teaching requirements, and when kids are tested on these concepts, with the type of instruction in mind, is a requirement.
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Take for example the NCTM standards and protocols. The NCTM sets mathematic teaching and instructional goals and standards. This standard is used to design state test requirements therefore what the NCTM requires is what schools have to use in order to teach math because the testing of students are based on the goals and standards they dictate
This obviously wasn't approached in a manner that would change the status quo.....in other words only the structure itself changed. I don't know what the solution is, but I do know lots of new concepts have been tried over the years and most of them have failed. Every time you let another generation slip through the cracks while these programs one after another fail to bring good results that is one more generation that is not prepared to go out into the world. Had this concept been adopted and carried out it sounds real good, but it wasn't and so I have to believe that it was just more money wasted on schools that now won't serve any good purpose with the way things are being done currently.
 @JatokÂ
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The way it was introduced was a completely DIFFERENT method that also requires different curriculum and methodology. The schools used the standard, teacher led teacher centered curriculum (which was never changed during this time) and hoped the open concept style would work.
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Curriculums also differ in the way teachers teach, and a style of classroom. When teachers, who are locked into a teaching style, trying newer things won't work. That is done even now. One method does not ALWAYS fit each and every student because students need different learning methods to learn, and a single method; which curriculums are built upon, will never reach all kids.
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American schools are built upon a teacher led, teacher centered method that requires passiveness on kids. They are there as an audience, not there to be actively doing things. In Asia and Europe, it is not about the teacher, but about the student; which is one main thing Findland does well at. They focus on getting students active in learning by forcing the centered subject onto the students and requiring the students to take an active role in the instruction, rather than the Americanized teacher led style
That's all well and good, but if you are going to introduce a new concept then it means that you have to have the employees on board which apparently they weren't and so the bottom line is that it was just another fad idea that didn't work but cost millions.
 @cclngthr #1 was not clear. "An agency receiving federal and state funding must be using each and every building that is ADA compliant;" Did you mean that all buildings used by the agency must be ADA compliant?
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Is the ADA compliance the real cost-driver or are the normal remodeling to current codes the cost driver?
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 @LockesChildÂ
All buildings used by an agency, such as a school district, state agency, or program receiving federal and state funding must be ADA compliant. This consists of wheelchair access to inside the entire building, including bathrooms. Ramps, doorways, including automatic openers, handrails, must be in compliance with ADA.
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The phrase each and every is a specialized term that means each one and all; every single.
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ADA compliance can mean structural retrofits, depending on what needs to be done. An elevator shaft being needed often requires structural modifications, which can involve other retrofits as well. This often involves bringing the area to current building code.
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You can't necessarily assume ADA compliance can be done without bringing the building to current code. They often go together; and when you open up walls, you must, by code, bring that area up to CURRENT code.  This includes earthquake retrofits.
 @LockesChildÂ
The question would be then, is it worth the risk of losing federal and state funding if all buildings are not ADA compliant? When ADA was passed, it set conditions regarding loss of government funds if ADA compliance was not met. Courts take a dim view of goverment agencies not following federal laws in regards to access to services in the locality they reside in. Before 1990, Tacoma also had a large number of non-district students bussed in from areas as far as Auburn and Enumclaw to be educated because the smaller districts were not required by law to have programs in place. While a few students from other districts are still bused in, the number has dropped due to the requirements of ADA and IDEA.
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What Tacoma Schools has done was kept the original exterior of a historical building and gutted the interior of the building to bring it up to code. The first school to see this done was Jason Lee MS. When Jason Lee was rebuilt, the whole interior was gutted, leaving the exterior intact and completely redoing the interior of the building. If a building cannot be rebuilt in this manner, such as the situation with Gray MS, the old building is torn down. Gray had a situation where most of the additions were in such poor shape that it was not worth trying to save the old structure. Retrofitting it to be earthquake resistant; a state requirement also has to be met. This is why Stanley, Roosevelt, Sheridan, Franklin, Lister, Mason, and Jefferson, all schools which were in older, brick faced 2 story buildings  were demolished. Stanley, Roosevelt and Sheridan were remodelled in the early 90's where the others were more recent.
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 @cclngthr It sounds like a complete gut or teardown is the only way to cost-effectively meet federal ADA requirements. Too bad if the school has historical significance but if the money isn't there the money isn't there. After all, what is more important--ADA access or an out of date building?
 @LockesChildÂ
It depends on who you talk to as far as costs, and each building in need of retrofits has its own set of problems based on original design and what needs to be done. Older buildings such as Stewart, and Washington have more challenges because they were never designed for wheelchair access. Doorways there are narrow and placed in positions that do not allow free movement of a chair from the hallway to the area you are going to. Bathrooms are very narrow and small, which a wheelchair cannot enter and have the space to close the door and allow positioning of that chair that allows transferring easy.
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TSD did retrofit Jason Lee MS, Stadium, Lincoln and Fern Hill by gutting the entire building and designing the interior to ADA standards with the original exterior in mind.
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Buildings built after 1990 are ADA compliant.
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 @cclngthr Thanks for the explanation of the lawyer-speak on #1. Just another mandate then.Â
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It sounds like a cascading situation. ADA changes that require opening the walls in turn requires extensive renovation to code requirements.
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What is the square foot cost for these remodels? I have looked for the physical size of Stewart but not found anything other than it has 527 students.
 @cclngthr Many Americans need their money to repair, maintain and save for many other increases that are coming from an abusive, overinflated and out of control government. sorry. You and your kind have long asked for more money instead of cutting costs, sacrificing for the kids or let alone managed what you were given. If you don't believe I provided several stories of where your money went.
@Funky-Munky
Over inflated government, to you, is often a requirement by federal law and the constitution.
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The constitution requires the government to provide appropriate SPED services to students who qualify for such services, which is determined by independent people not associated by the government agency. A disablity is diagnosed by a doctor, not the school district. Once the disability is identified, you have to provide services that child needs while in school, under the constitution and federal law.
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Of course, you would rather apply an Auchwitz type of service where these people are automatically put to death because you feel they are not human and worth living.
 @Funky-MunkyÂ
I have seen a dramatic increase in the attitude that certain programs are too costly, and SPED is one of them. People have advocated of eliminating SPED services because they feel disabled kids cannot learn and are burdens on society (like the Nazi ideals in the Final Solution) and in need of more care than the schools should be providing; an argument that encourages the euthenasia of a certain group of people.
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While SPED services may appear initially expensive, the overall cost of educating disabled students may be high, however, without educating disabled students, but housing them in institutions for 60-80 years is more costly than attempting to educate them while they are young and having them integrated into society and become taxpayers as adults.
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Cost wise, overall, the added costs of SPED service overrides the cost factor of lifelong institutionalization of people.
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People do forget the time when genocide was used. Germany killed 6 million people; the majority of them Jews. Germany was the only country to use sterilization and killing of groups of people, but the United States led the world in forced sterilization of disabled people from 1907 to the late 30's. The US Supreme Court also allowed this in its ruling in the Buck vs Bell case, where states were to sterilize disabled people because society felt the incidence of increasing of disabilities was largely caused by people with conditions being able to reproduce.
 @cclngthr Good grief.... You have failed at realizing your snide comment about me was inappropriate. I realize you're passionate, intelligent and advocating for what you believe. I commend you, but I will not let you insult me. Good luck.
@Funky-Munky
You are the one who encourages eugenics be used on people; not me.
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BTW, DO have a disability and without such access to society, I would be institutionalized according to your plan.
 @cclngthr Please spare me the drama.... Read the two articles I posted pertaining to theft in the school district..... I am more than aware of existing problems in the school district. You and your kind always play the what about the children card. I ain't buying it anymore. You would do well to prosecute and go after those who continue to steal, misspend and misplace funds before crying foul. You're a drama mama for saying this "...Of course, you would rather apply an Auchwitz type of service where these people are automatically put to death because you feel they are not human and worth living." I don't appreciate that kind of crap. You would be a prime candidate for Eugenics.... Now do you appreciate that? didn't think so. :(
 @cclngthr Again,
Get rid of the over abundance of administrative employees. Get rid of the redundant admin buildings. Spend that money on the children, then and only then ask me for more taxes.
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 @ed-209Â
Administrative employees may be required.
Take special education for example. There are separate subprograms within that larger program and separate managers are required to operate that program by law (federal and state).
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Federal law requires every school to have access to special ed services, which includes PT, OT, Speech, Transportation, and ed services such as behavioral, multi-ortho, developmental, autism, adjustment (self contained classes), LRC, Preschool ECE, Deaf/hard of hearing, and specialized areas such as Title 1, LAP (which are funded in a separate category, but are with the umbrella of SPED), Gifted.
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SPED requires the related services of speech, OT/PT, transportation and other subprograms that comply with the FREE APPROPRIATE EDUCATION in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT mandated by 3 separate federal laws as well as US Supreme Court cases involving SPED services. Courts usually side with the child/parents, not the school district.
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Of course, when you arbitraily cut administrative, you have to consider what you are cutting, and highly specialized programs have to have specialized managers to run them because not everyone can run separate subgroups because of the specialty involved. Transportation is involved because it is a mandated related service and it often requires door to door transportation and specialized buses that have wheelchair lifts, and people who know how to run that equipment and tie down that wheelchair safely.
This type of disrepair seems to be happening all over Washington State. My daughter came home today (we live in the Renton School District) and she informed me that the water at the school is unsafe to drink and the school doesn't want the kids even using the water to boil food with due to the high levels of lead. All the fountains are turned off so the kids won't drink out them so I send her to school with a canteen with brita water inside. I watched a youtube video of Cascade middle school in Sedro-Wooley that is in the same need of repair as those described in this report. I would definitely pay more in taxes if it meant our kids would not be subjected to mold and rot throughout the schools.  Either overhaul the existing school or build another and tear down the old building.Â
This thing is happening all over Wa. State and the sad part about it is that no one is being held accountable for why these schools have not been maintained over the years. It's one thing to replace one school at a time, but when a whole district comes to the point of letting most of their schools deteriorate to this point doesn't it make you wonder why they haven't had better maintenance over the years? It takes a while for a building to get to the point some of these are.
I don't live in Tacoma, but if I did, I would not vote yes until I saw a detailed report of how they spend their existing funds. NOT something that breaks down expenses by broad categories (e.g. "teacher support"), but something that shows what every person in that district does and what their function is. I think many of you would be surprised at all the waste in the public school system.
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Don't believe me? How can private schools do a better job with almost half the money?
the feds are the ones who should be sending the $500 million to fix the schools. they are suppose to be paying for the schools to educate the american citizens. Â it's going to take more than $500 million to tear down and rebuild safe earthquake resistant schools.
The feds get their money from the same tax paying citizens that the state does. These people need to learn to use the money they get in a responsible way and quit thinking that the taxpayers are a money tree they can always pick for more when things get tight.
The bonds do help. I own a home in Tacoma, and even though it will raise my monthly - I am voting yes.
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We already pay a double bond down here, and even though the property taxes went down yet again because of the 15% property value drop a few months ago, we pay more now then before. Adding a third bond will tighten us up a little - but this is for education - and I will give all I can to help it out.This is about the children - our future - so...
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Invest in America you jaded grouches!
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Just remember one thing, all of these taxes will eventually get passed on to your kids and their kids and they may not be able to handle the burden of taxe you now struggle with. It may be awhile until your kids are out there, but I can tell you one thing for sure in all my years I've seen taxes go up, but they never come down.
 @Audio Cat People want to invest in AMERICA ! But look around high sewer and water rates. Not to keep the system working ,but to get people to use less. The same with energy. Shutting down power plants,taking down hydro dams and water resivours is not the answer . The answer is our elected people have not used the money collected wisely. The unions and their high salaries and legacy costs are smothering us.  There was no budgeting for maintenance,no reserves for expansion. Just spend every dollar collected.
 @Audio Cat ....I see it referenced below, and it is incidents like the Potter & Goodloe-Johnson that tend to Jade some voters, except Funk Monk below was incorrect in his $$ figure....closer to 3.1 Million.Â
With a levy this large, are there guarantees for oversight? On going audits of how the $$ is spent??
Sad. But I understand the resentment to the bond. I'm not saying the buildings are not bad, it's there's a lot of waste and people just say "no!"
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I don't think it helps the schools cause when they claim there will be less drop-outs if the school is newer. Now that is a load of cr*p. Really, that's the best you can come up with?
why fix what is broken on the out side if you wont fix whats broken on the inside?Glamorizing instead of energizing what a drag!
Voting NO. They can't manage the money they already have and just want to throw more of OUR money at the problem? Nope. I will NEVER vote yes on any levy or tax increase until we get real leaders in office who know how to spend the money effectively.
I am a Tacoma Resident and my kids go to a crumbling School
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Please - Please - Please - Vote YES!!!!
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 I can't even convey the level of dis-repair these schools are in.
 @_Monte_ I hope that you get the bond for the sake of the kids. No kid should have to go to school that's falling apart.Â