$960 million for SKSD

To the editor:

The South Kitsap school board passed a policy forbidding directors from debating or asking questions concerning district bills and payments. How is that an open, transparent or deliberative process when a board member, let alone the voter — you can’t ask?

SKSD will ask for a $271 million bond in November, one of three being planned. Three bonds, $960 million, spread over 60 years. One 20-year bond every five to nine years. The district hopes to be as transparent as possible, stating voter mentalities must be changed, claiming we judge schools by the outside, not what happens inside.

Do such comments engender trust, confidence or respect?

We passed a capital levy a few years back. We were promised many capital projects would be completed, but they are now deferred due to lack of funds. The pool project has eaten up $10.9 million to date, only 60% completed. SKSD used $2.8 million in COVID recovery funds for the pool. Those funds were supposed to help students recover from lost learning. Where are SKSD priorities?

The district hired 403 extra employees these past years; 403 more than the state funds. Levy dollars slotted for education enrichment are used to pay salaries, pay raises and health care for these unfunded employees. Who takes on ongoing expenses using temporary funds? We do.

What about Chromebooks? We are told they “age out” and stop working. $2.8 million is needed to replace them. How about buying laptops with a longer shelf life?

Dave Kimble

Manchester

Stop funding

To the editor:

The South Kitsap School District needs $2.8 million in 2026 to replace Chromebooks.

Let me remind taxpayers of some things they are funding currently. Since 2006, they have been paying a Maintenance and Operations levy at a cost of $25 million per year.

For the last eight years, taxpayers also have been paying SKSD $25 million more per year on a second M&O levy.

That means the district has collected about $700 million dollars for M&O levies.

What does “M” mean SKSD? It means maintaining, repairing, replacing damaged items, etc., of any/all taxpayer-owned materials/items. We are now officially aware that maintenance has been almost nil since the inception of the American School System.

What does “O” mean SKSD? It means “We the People,” the employer of all SKSD employees, are paying you to care for our taxpayer-owned system. Constant levy demands are made every year to accomplish the same work year after year that is never accomplished.

I am extremely curious why SKSD is receiving $50 million per year of M&O money, and they are not replacing Chromebooks they know are going to die? They know when they were purchased how long they would last.

This nation’s school system is not functioning properly or in a cost-effective manner so it is obvious that the employer (we taxpayers) needs to stop or greatly curtail all funding to school districts.

Larry Mann

Port Orchard