Earlier this month, it was announced that the Bremerton School District and its school board have begun discussions about a potential capital projects levy.

Since the school district itself is not legally allowed to lobby for its own levy, those promotional and exploratory duties fell upon the citizens of the community to organize, gather and discuss any and all evidence available that a capital levy is needed or not needed and then present that evidence along with arguments for or against back to the school board. And, to the voting public.

A well-respected member of the local education community, Wendy Stevens, has been asked to be one of the chairpersons of the re-established Citizens for Good Schools in Bremerton committee. She has agreed and I think she is an excellent choice for this position.

Wendy has asked me to join the committee during their exploratory and information gathering efforts even though it is commonly known that I am currently against both the collective size and timing of a potential district capital projects levy for a host of reasons that I will later share with the committee and the school board.

To best serve the community, a committee of this type must be diverse in its membership and representations. It must be transparent, open and through. It must be an independent, analytical body that will go on to make a collective recommendation that best serves the community.

I may not be for the levy at this time, but I am for the process. I very much respect the process and will do whatever I can individually to ensure the a process is adhered to and that the final recommendation is as balanced, representative and informative as possible.

The Citizens for Good Schools in Bremerton committee will be holding a community forum on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the school district’s board room. The purpose of the forum is to share information about the anticipated projects and financial needs of the district that exceed the current budget, which the proposed levy would support.  The forum will also provide the opportunity for community members to make their thoughts known to the committee and eventually to the school board. People both for and against the levy are openly encouraged to attend.

If you cannot attend the meeting and still wish to make your opinion known, you can email Wendy at bremertonschools@live.com and she will ensure that your submission is included.

This is Bremerton’s opportunity to participate in a decision that will affect the entire community.

Local education will be impacted one way or another via either the levy passage or failure.