This week, for the second time in 11 weeks, voters exercise their democratic rights, weighing the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s latest construction bond.

If successful, the $56.2 million measure would build a new, $48 million middle school, and add nearly $8 million in improvements to other schools. It failed in February by a single vote, and a March recount failed to change the outcome.

This bond is running now because of what is happening at Mount Si High School. There, a growing student body demands room to grow, and the district has found it at nearby Snoqualmie Middle School, which is slated to become a freshman campus in 2013. In turn, that means a middle school, planned to be built on Snoqualmie Ridge.

The bond is about more than just buildings. The difference between having three middle schools or just two goes beyond classrooms and core areas and affects the life of a campus, and the connections and opportunities that children receive. Last week, I visited a Chief Kanim Middle School band classroom, where teacher Haley Franzwa uses creativity and energy to open the world of music to young people. Franzwa told me that a bond failure will mean a disadvantage to students; crowded classrooms make it harder for her to get through to her charges. Students in first-chair positions in band told me that their experiences in music changed their life. Fewer, more crowded schools would impede that talent, that transformation.

Opponents of this bond have aired their reasons for voting ‘no,’ the easiest of which to understand is simple home economics. I can accept someone voting against the bond because they cannot afford it. But the signs that have sprouted in the last few weeks, hinting at better options, make less sense to me. District committees of parents and staff spent two years pondering how to address crowding at upper grades, and the satellite campus, though a bold step, was their best solution. The Freshman Learning Center may be a novel departure, but creating it will save time and resources when compared with a high school remodel. If we can’t support a more economical option, what makes people think a more expensive remodel or new campus is feasible in today’s Valley?

I believe the Freshman Learning Center is worth trying. As important, it’s coming: the district has publicly committed to it.

Voters who can spare the roughly $16 monthly cost of the bond have a decision to make: Should the district keep its three middle schools, or go down to two, and run the risk of having more young people fall through the cracks at a crucial preparative time for the high-stakes high school environment.

I don’t think $190 a year is too steep a price to ensure a stable middle-school environment, and I don’t think middle schoolers should be punished because of a growing high school population. That’s why I urge Valley residents to support this needed construction and vote “yes” on Proposition 1.