Prominent British statistician Claus Moser once said, "Education costs money. But then so does ignorance."
A society that invests in education invests in its people and its future. Without those investments, without thriving schools and libraries, without a robust commitment to learning and basic research, societies begin to atrophy.
Battle Ground Public Schools (BGPS) has done much to serve the needs and interests of our community. The district supports a large and diverse population by offering more alternative learning options than any other district in Southwest Washington. The district provides multiple graduation pathways, with a strong emphasis on career and technical education programs, helping to prepare students for life after high school.
Over the past five years, the district has made multiple upgrades to meet modern safety and security needs. The district has responded to calls for transparency and community engagement by creating an open citizen's advisory committee with regular meetings and direct lines of communication with district administrators and board members.
At the same time, BGPS has managed aging facilities, rising costs, challenging transportation needs and the expiration of key federal and state funding.
Despite these challenges, the district has maintained the lowest local tax burden of any K-12 district in the county and achieved 15 consecutive years of clean audits.
BGPS and the U.S. public education system are not without faults. The U.S. Department of Education is in upheaval, and our state Legislature continues to regulate our local schools from Olympia, getting some things right but others painfully wrong.
Across the country, school board meetings have become faultlines for partisan conflict and grievance rather than constructive problem-solving. It is understandable that local taxpayers would be reluctant to shoulder additional costs for a system that can feel broken and unresponsive, especially at a time when families are being asked to do more with less amid rising costs and economic uncertainty.
But we cannot fix a broken system by starving our local schools of the resources they so desperately need to provide for our children and our community. After the last levy failure, the district had to cut 116 positions and eliminate programs that many students and families rely on. Education costs money, but over the long term, ignorance costs far more. Our district and our community simply cannot afford another levy failure. The cost would be too great.
Please join me in voting yes in support of Battle Ground schools.
Joshua Wilde
Battle Ground
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