The Tahoma School District is an excellent place for education, and Maple Valley is an excellent community. Together, the district and the community offer one of the best places to live in the Northwest. If we can pass the school bond on April 26 we’ll be ensuring the future of both schools and the greater community.

Having a strong school system is a benefit for the future. Being able to offer a variety of educational opportunities, advanced placement courses, and vocational opportunities makes our students competitive as they vie for college and vocational placement, and even future jobs.

A diploma from Tahoma is a respected thing!

But these fabulous schools are currently full, and within 10 years, we’ll see an enrollment increase of 1,800 students.

We can’t physically handle that amount of students. We can explore options such as multi-track year-round school or double-shifting to fit everyone in the existing space, but these are inconvenient options that affect the quality of education overall.

Additionally, with the increase in students comes a decrease in the educational opportunities, as teachers are required to teach more required courses, and fewer optional courses — optional courses that include advanced placement and vocational classes, among others. The future of our students becomes more insecure.

You don’t have to have students attending Tahoma schools to be affected by the bond passing or failing. Strong schools attract thoughtful citizens—thinking people who want the best for their children and their community. Strong schools affect local economics by stimulating the local economy and improving real estate values. Weak school systems have the opposite effect.

I have taught seventh grade language arts here in Maple Valley for seven years and each year I am grateful to be part of a school system that is admired for it’s dedication to rigor and life-long learning. We have a real opportunity here to guarantee that our schools and our community continue to be exceptional. Please vote YES on the bond for the students and the greater community.

Kat Wamba

Seventh grade teacher

Cedar River Middle School

Federal Way