MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — classroom. An overcrowded, aging portable. Indeed, a quarter of the students in the Tahoma School District are learning inside these buildings -- some of them a half-century old.
"We are cramming kids in buildings that were not designed to house that many kids," says Superintendent Mike Maryanski. To fix what is wrong, school officials need voters to pass a $195 million levy -- a 60 percent yes vote that has been hard to come by.
"We have some pockets in our community of fairly conservative people that are not, that don't appreciate tax and big government and they vote," Maryanski said.
And they have voted down three school levies since 1997. Longtime residents say they are still in no mood to pay.
"You know I believe in taking care of children and education," said Lou Damey, who has lived in Maple Valley since 1965. "But when I run out of money I don't tell my employer I need more."
Tamra Youngblood has lived in Maple Valley for 49 years. "I think we've got plenty of schools out here," Youngblood said. "But they just need to quit building all the houses out here."
But parent Kelly Harned, a relative newcomer, says that isn't going to happen.
"The fact is that people are moving here," Harned said. "There are neighborhoods going in. And that isn't going to change."
Moreover, for the schools, she said, "It's a dire situation. So it's not if this bond will pass, it has to pass. It has to pass."
Tahoma school officials tell us they don't know whether the fourth time will be the charm. But since the election is in November - a lot more people are expected at the polls -- they're hoping more voters this time will push the bond measure through.
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