Letter to the Editor: Kudos to Kirby for School Levy Explanation

Thanks to Neal Kirby for his letter explaining what happened to our school district leading up to the levy failure. He has been there, done that and knows how hard it is to be the voice of reason. I agree with most of his conclusions including that with transparency and honesty, “the public might be more positive on the levy request.” 

However, the fact that he has to ask for transparency highlights the fact that a lot of people have lost faith in the board’s ability to exercise it’s due diligence and control of the process. This is especially true since the recently elected members were heavily supported by the union, giving little confidence that they will represent the best interests of the community at large.  

The district’s financial problems are due to giving 24 percent raises after the teacher strike when the new state dollars didn’t provide for those raises. This summer the union is going to negotiate more gains in their wages before the next levy vote. Every member of the school board has received union funding in their election. Will they even want to stand against the union plundering other student programs, increase class sizes or cut employees for their own raises? Will we even be allowed to know if they do since everyone on the board is financially beholden to the union? With Neal Kirby and Jami Lund’s departure from the school board, we don’t even have anyone to sound an alarm if taxpayers and other areas of spending are sacrificed. 

Kirby’s suggestions are a good start but when push comes to shove in the next negotiation, I lack faith that we will be happy with the result. 

Thomas Duffy

Centralia