Our community's strong support of children through our local levies is clearly visible every day throughout our schools and classrooms.
By providing full-time kindergarten to 805 students this school year, we recently hit a significant milestone as a community. All kindergarteners have had as much instructional time this school year - in February - as many kindergarteners had during the entire 2010-11 school year. Not possible without our local levies, full-time kindergarten is causing a fundamental shift in how we teach our youngest students. Research shows that early childhood education is one of the best long-term investments, with benefits including a community reduction in crime, promotion of schooling and a more skilled work force.
Local support is also evident at our middle and high schools. Students enjoy the arts, music, physical education and athletics, as well as essential technology and vocational courses - all important for keeping students engaged in school and reducing the dropout rate. As another example of the impact of local funding, our high schools were nationally recognized for increasing the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses while maintaining rigorous learning. Levy funds have also provided technology for students in special education, creating a new opportunity for some children to demonstrate their learning.
State budget cuts have had a significant impact throughout our school system and yet, local funding helped soften the loss of staff last year to keep class sizes from increasing by four to five students per class to approximately two students per class.
We have become increasingly reliant on local levies to support what federal and state funds do not provide and still deliver the public education our community expects and deserves. Local funds impact nearly everything from classroom instruction to paying utilities and providing school bus transportation. All of our current levies expire in 2012. One levy pays for nearly 25 percent of education in Bellingham Public Schools and the second provides technology, which is not funded by the state. The third supplemental levy was only temporary and also expires later this year.
The two levies on the Feb. 14 ballot for Bellingham voters to renew are not new levies. They replace expiring levies that are essential for our daily school operations and student learning.
As we face more state budget cuts this spring, we will again rely on local levy support to lessen the impact. We are asking voters to renew both school levies, which, combined, involve paying approximately $8 more per month than the current rate on a $250,000 property beginning in 2013. These local funds over the next four years will help us endure federal and state budget cuts, maintain our current instructional program to the greatest extent possible, and better prepare future graduates.
Our elementary students now have new reading materials for the first time in many years, all because of the support of local voters. We have great needs for instructional materials in other subject areas at other grade levels. Only two of our 14 elementary schools currently offer world language, which is much easier to learn at a young age in preparation for the high school graduation requirement and today's global workplace. Our middle schools are eager to expand opportunities for world language, arts and technology in the future. Demand for online learning is growing. And we are just beginning to bring back vocational experiences for high school students to prepare them for jobs in technology, manufacturing, the trades and more.
As I spend time throughout our schools, I witness gratitude by students, staff and families for the educational experiences our community supports and optimism for the future. To experience this first-hand, please make arrangements to visit one of our schools. Shuksan Middle School has been providing regular school tours for community members as part of a "Turning to One Another" program since early fall. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity by calling 360-647-6879. Our website has videos demonstrating the value of local support as well as levy details at bellinghamschools.org/levyfacts.
Please remember to vote by Feb. 14. Thank you for the strong community support of our schools.
Dr. Greg Baker is superintendent of Bellingham Public Schools and the father of three young children.