Skagit Valley Herald Editorial
Consider MV bond issue
on its own merits
Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood, Editor Don Nelson and City Editor Dick Clever.
Mount Vernon School Board Chairman Charlie Guildner is unequivocal in his assessment of the district's expectations for its $46.4 million bond issue proposal on the April 24 ballot.
"We must deliver what we say we'll deliver," Guildner told the Skagit Valley Herald editorial board in a recent interview.
That's both the message Guildner and other board members have heard repeatedly from the district's residents, and the promise they are making to taxpayers. The message and the pledge have a special urgency in the Mount Vernon district, which did not deliver on its most recent large bond issue. The district's poor handling of the 2001 bond money and its failure to come clean early on with the public on the true cost of the construction program have been investigated and explored exhaustively.
The entire school board and top administration have turned over since then, and Supt. Carl Bruner has operated in an open and responsive fashion to the district's many constituencies. Bruner and current board members didn't create the issues, only inherited them. And as much as they would like the bad taste to just go away, they also recognize that they must acknowledge and address some tough questions. They've done that, and now it's time for district residents to consign past problems to history's dustbin and consider the current proposal on its own merits.
Steady residential growth is stretching the district's resources. More than 2,000 residential building lots are on the development track within the school district's boundaries, and enrollment is expected to expand by about 400 students in the next five years. Without an adequate response, the district's ability to offer sound education at all levels will be threatened. Funds from the bond issue would be used to rebuild badly dated Madison Elementary School; build a new, seventh elementary school for 550 students on East Division Street; and renovate and expand the Mount Vernon High School gymnasium and field house complex.
Board members, staffers and community volunteers have been meticulous in considering the district's needs and weighing them against financial and political realities. Bruner points to a thorough review and comment process as evidence of the district's intent to be aware of taxpayer concerns. "We have not been naive about the challenge," he said.
Nor have they been unrealistic or extravagant. This bond issue proposal deserves to be considered without historical baggage, and the current board and administration deserve the chance to show that they will deliver as promised.
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