Three reasons why I’m supporting the ESD Levy and I hope you will too.

Next month the Enumclaw School District will have a maintenance levy on the April 22 Special Election ballot. I’ll be voting yes, and here’s why:

Citizen Involvement – I appreciate the year-long effort of volunteers from Enumclaw and Black Diamond who did a deep-dive into the current condition of ESD’s school buildings. During this process the committee found leaking roofs, failing water heaters, broken heating systems, out-of-date alarm panels and HVAC systems that need to be replaced. This levy will fix these most urgent building problems so ESD kids can learn in safe, warm and dry classrooms.

Reasonable Request – This financial ask is less than five percent of the original bond request two years ago: only $12 million in this levy compared to $253 million in the 2023 bond. This is a very reasonable request to make urgently needed repairs that will benefit every school in the district.

Community Responsibility – It’s our responsibility as a community to support the children in our school district. No matter where we live, we all contribute to taxes that help the next generation learn and become contributing members of our community. Even though I no longer have kids in the system (my boys graduated from EHS in ’16 and ’19) I still care about providing decent learning environments for the over four thousand students in the district.

I hope you’ll join me in voting yes for our kids. To learn more about what projects the ESD levy will fund and how you can help pass this levy, go to www.Yes4rkids.com.

Johna Thomson

Black Diamond