Voters in the Snoqualmie Valley have an important decision to make concerning education of our children. District 410 has placed a levy on the ballot asking homeowners to provide almost a quarter billion dollars for a new high school and other improvements.

This will cost the average homeowners over $500 or more added to their property tax bill annually. This will be in addition to the increases we will see due to skyrocketing property values. At a time when many middle class families are still struggling, the levy will place an undue and unreasonable burden on the majority of Valley residents. Consider that many people have most of their assets in their homes.

So where should this money come from? The Washington State Supreme Court has held our legislators in contempt of court for failing to adequately fund education because the refrain from Republicans remains “No new taxes!” But we will be paying more taxes in the form of an onerous increase in our property taxes. Keep in mind that Washington state has one of the most regressive tax structures in the nation.

We have not heard that our school district officials have gone to Olympia and made a case to the legislature that the district needs financing to adequately fund the needs of local schools.

We have not heard from our representatives in Olympia, who are Republicans, recognizing the needs of our schools. Nor do they seem willing to find solutions instead of depending on homeowners to provide school financing without a huge tax increase on Valley residents. It seems Olympia would rather give huge tax breaks to large corporations, such as Boeing and Microsoft, and the wealthiest state residents. They will continue to depending on hard-working middle-class families to provide the needed funding, while claiming they haven’t raised our taxes.

Our continued approval of levies to provide the money needed for educating our children just enables our legislators not to find permanent solutions for financing. I have never voted against a school levy in the 25-plus years I have lived in the Valley. My wife and I are retired and depend on a fixed income. The increase in property taxes will make it difficult to maintain a reasonable standard of living.

I ask other voters to join me in turning down the levy.

The solution is to lobby our state representatives and senators to find permanent alternatives for the financial needs of both K-12 and higher education.

Dan Olah

North Bend