Small Town News

Stand united behind the decision

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Next week, the Grand Coulee Dam School District's board of directors will have to decide on the best place available to build a new school complex.

The question, naturally, has drawn out varied and conflicting opinions from many people, all with valid points to consider.

In the end, though, only the school board members can make the choice; that's the kind of responsibility we bestow on elected officials in a democratic republic. Legislators have urged the community to decide the issue, hoping to find some funding to actually make the project a reality; so there is no time for a popular vote, nor the stomach for the considerable extra expense one would incur.

This area does not have the bonding capacity to float a school bond in order to pay the half of the expense that won't be covered by the state. We literally cannot afford it, because of so little taxable property in the area. To build a $34 million K-12 complex, we would have to match the $17 million the state estimates we would be eligible for under its new school construction program.

Right now, we tax ourselves, by popular vote, $4.30 for every $1,000 of property value just to gain a little over $800,000 to help run the schools. Added to the state's tax bill and other local taxing districts', local property owners already foot a bigger bill than almost anyone in the state. If we added a bond issue to pay for part of a school, we could add to that burden another $3.38 per thousand.

Not only would such a proposal never survive a vote, it would only raise about $9.5 million, far short of the $17 million needed at a minimum.

So we're stuck. The system that serves most of the state and nation fails us utterly. The wealth that has accrued to farm lands to the south through irrigation, the great benefit to the entire Pacific Northwest from the hydropower produced by this community, the flooding devastation that does not occur because of this community's presence does not count. Our schools and our children go wanting as we supply the means for progress elsewhere.

That's why the federal government will have to come through and live up to its responsibility to provide for a community that provides for the rest of the nation at its bidding.

That will never happen if the people in this community don't unite behind the school board's decision, whatever it is. Bickering over the perfect spot could scuttle the whole project at a time when our legislators try to convince other skeptical members of a Congress fighting for every dollar why we should get anything.

The school board appears to have done its best to consider all opinions and points. Once they make the tough decision, unanimous or not, the entire community must unite behind it. Only then, can the hard work of finding the money truly begin.



Copyright 2010 The Star, Grand Coulee, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Star Grand Coulee, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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