With all due respect to Mr. Pardy, I think you might consider moving to anther country. I’m proud to live and work in a country that gives every person the right to an education regardless of their parent’s ability to pay for it.  Public schools are just that, they’re for the public at large. I’d bet that your children attended schools that were funded by people who, also, had raised their children and had paid their mortgages in full.

I’ve read every letter to the editor since the school levy issue came forward and I’m sad to say that there are many in this community who confuse issues, don’t get their facts straight and forget about the American economic system. 

Who’s paying your Social Security check today? I’d venture to say that I am, a working mother of two children. I’d love to apply the 7.65 percent of my paycheck (and the matching 7.65 percent my employer pays) to my children’s education instead. That’s an idea I hadn’t considered. Let’s put that program in place today!

Not retired quite yet? I predict that my two children, who will be well-educated and gainfully employed someday, will be contributing to the Social Security checks of tomorrow.

Angry at local government?  Well, get involved. Stop reading about your government and go to their meetings. Exercise your right to comment. Call your elected officials. Don’t take misinformation about one agency and use it to make irrational decisions about another agency. 

Don’t like the way the schools handle their budget? Go to the school board meetings. Ask for copies of their budget. Look it over and make suggestions.  You have that right.

In the meantime, I’m working with today’s reality. The reality is, I also pay taxes for schools, roads, Social Security, national defense, fire, police, civic programs, welfare programs and so much more. I don’t use all of those programs myself, either, Mr. Pardy. Welcome to America.

I’m a proud, tax-paying American. I’m well-educated and very involved in Oak Harbor. I’m fiscally conservative and I don’t like to see waste in government, either.

On March 8, I’ll vote “yes” to keep my taxes at the same level they are today, so that my children, and all of the other school children in Oak Harbor, will continue to have an education that includes physical education, art, music, hot lunches and more. I challenge all of the letter writers to do the research and then vote “yes” as well. The reality is, your future might just depend on the future of my children.

Priscilla Heistad

Oak Harbor