Arlington has great public schools! Those of us who have, or have had children in the schools know this from what we witness every day in the quality and thoughtful education of our kids. We also know this from the frequent local and national awards our schools receive. It is clear that the focus of our Arlington school district is on meeting the educational needs of our youth — “every child, every hour, every day.”
However, part of teaching our children is bringing them to school and home every day, and that part of our schools is in need of funding from the community in the form of a “one time,” two-year levy.
Our current bus fleet is old. It is the oldest bus fleet in Snohomish County. (We also ask our old buses to travel an astounding 4,800 miles every day!) Because of the age of our buses, fewer are considered “in depreciation” and thus fewer are eligible for state money. In other words, we receive less money from the state than if we were to have newer buses. Old buses are harder and more expensive to maintain. Those old buses break down frequently and are frustratingly unreliable. Parts for old buses are hard to find. Old buses are markedly less fuel-efficient than newer buses, making them more expensive to run. Newer buses are significantly safer in many ways, in addition to being less expensive to maintain and run.
With the proposed transportation levy we will update our bus fleet and then use the increased state funds to keep our fleet modern. With the increase in funding from the state, we will be able to gradually replace older buses without asking voters for further levies.
Our children deserve the wonderful schools that we have. They also deserve safe, reliable buses. Our community deserves a bus fleet that is efficient, both economically and environmentally. We deserve to be able to take advantage of as much of the state funding as is reasonable. To do anything else would be fiscally irresponsible.
In order to give our community what we truly deserve we need to vote yes on the Transportation Vehicle Levy.
Jenny Taylor
Arlington
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