Supporting school bonds good for Valley

April 25, 2006

SPECTRUM/Terry Snyder

Recently I attended a conference where the speaker started with an old African proverb:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are the lion or the gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better start running!

As a community dealing with growth, do we want to be the lion or the gazelle? Do we want to constantly chase our growth, hoping it will slow down long enough for us to catch it? Or, do we want to stay ahead of the challenges that we face.

On May 2, Valley voters will decide about dealing with growth, when they go to the voting booth and cast their ballot containing important school construction and repair projects.

I am a full-time resident and large taxpayer from Big Lake. Unlike many of the proponents of these bonds, I don't have any children in the overcrowded schools of the Mat-Su Borough.

To me this isn't about personal agendas or whether you have a child in the system. We need a well-educated workforce to support retirees that live here, too. The children of today will be our future nurses, doctors and plumbers!

There are those who would like us to bury our heads in the sand when it comes to overcrowding in schools. Without new schools and more classroom space, the district will need more portables at a cost of more than $80,000 each or consider double-shifting.

Some folks would have us believe that the district can shift attendance boundaries to solve the problem. Even if the boundaries were shifted from Talkeetna to Glacier View it wouldn't make a difference.

The Mat-Su Valley is gaining more than 500 new students per year. It's a pattern of growth that is expected to continue. The borough is one of the fastest growing communities, ranked at a staggering 31st in the nation last year.

So why the special election now? The state is willing to pay 60-70 percent of all the costs of the ballot projects. We can take advantage of this substantial reimbursement to build two elementary schools, one in Settlers Bay (an area that alone grew a shocking 17 percent last year) and one near the new hospital in South Palmer.

In addition, Wasilla Middle and High schools, two of the oldest and most crowded in the district, are in bad need of repair. The cafeteria in Wasilla Middle isn't near big enough to accommodate 800 students, and Wasilla High needs window, door and flooring replacements to bring it up to current code.

Finally, we have some who believe that the state should write a check and cover 100 percent of the cost for building new schools. They contend that voting no and turning down the state's offer to pay 60-70 percent of the cost will &#8220send a message.” That's called cutting off your nose to spite your face.

The state will not pay 100 percent for the cost of school construction. In fact, there is currently a bill before the Legislature to reduce the amount of funding from the state for any projects approved after October.

The bottom line is this: The move to the Valley is real and growing daily. The need for new schools and repairs is well documented. The state is willing to pay $26.1 million of the $39.7 million in the bonds, but only if voters approve the bonds on May 2.

I urge you to do what is right and vote yes for schools. Let's be the fastest gazelle, not the lamest lion.

Terry Snyder is co-chair of the Schools Yes! committee.