Is school district spending foolishly? | Letters

Published 3:55 pm Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Federal Way School Board announced they will seek a construction levy in the amount of $110,000,000 to replace Federal Way High School.

I think the district is smart to replace the school when costs are significantly down. However, before we vote to approve this levy, should we not know what we are building? Maybe we the taxpayers could have some choices other than the district needs $110,000,000.

Are we going to build a high school for the realities of today? Consider the following two recent quotes from the Wall Street Journal:

• “Modern factory jobs, many of which require more brainpower and computer know-how than muscle, often pay well and are secure.”

• “And, given the demands of the modern factory, it isn’t going to be the ticket to the middle class for unskilled workers who haven’t gone beyond high school. Pretending otherwise is foolish.”

Our students at graduation are either going to college, trade school or have the basic skills to be trained by employers (this includes the military.) Is this new school designed to foster the academics necessary for these tasks, or are we just trying to keep the children happy? One of the top high schools in Washington is the aviation theme school in the Highline School District. Can part of the new high school operate as a theme school?

Many school districts have very successful schools. Are we modeling our new high school after any of them, and if we aren’t, why not? Where are the proposals? Does anyone realize how much money $110,000,000 is? And I don’t care if the district says almost half the money is from other state sources, it’s not money to be spent foolishly.

Steve Skipper, Federal Way