If you have school-aged children, please vote. If you are military and do not want to change your residence, the dependent member can register and vote in Washington while the active member remains a resident of your state of choice. If you do not or no longer have kids in local schools, please recall how you or your children received an education. It required a community effort of some sort. Today that effort is through our local levy.

It is OK to disagree on how the district is run. You are welcome to attend the meetings and express your concerns; bring solutions, everyone loves a little help. Write letters and phone your board members and school principals. Vote to change the school board membership. You can even run for a position yourself. But do not let your levy vote be your means of expressing your policy disagreements. Don’t let that be your excuse for not supporting the benefits the levy provides.

There are some who tend to vote against any increase in their taxes, no matter how necessary the cause. That is an understandable choice. But as you mark this ballot, please take some time to consider the long term impact that a negative vote might do to the community as a whole. And what a positive vote conveys to our current and future members.

If you live in the Oak Harbor School District, please vote. Please vote “yes” twice for our future.

Dave Horton

Oak Harbor