By the time you read this, the verdict will be in on maintenance and operations levies for Cheney and Medical Lake school districts, plus another handful of others across Spokane County.
At stake will be about 25-percent of the operating money all of our districts need to run the schools and a variety of other activities.
As we said earlier in supporting these measures, the Cheney Free Press is hoping voters step up and keep doing what they've done for so many years and offer their yes votes. No one recalls the last time a levy failed in either Cheney or Medical Lake so 2012 is not a year we need to go down in history.
But this election has seemed to have a strange vibe and undercurrent to it from the get-go. An uneasiness, if you will, that has brought out more than the usual concerns, and more than the normal opposition.
While Cheney Superintendent Larry Keller did not offer the same concern when asked if he had that same sense, others seemed to.
KHQ TV, for instance donated countless hours of airtime. One Saturday not long ago they invited all area school officials to use the station's phone banks to answer voters' questions. And then Q-6 allowed individual superintendents and staff to go one-on-one answering questions from patrons on Facebook.
All of this it seems is aimed to help counter this perceived threat, and the covert offensive waged by the people – and apparent deep pockets – from the shadow anti-tax group, Taxfacs. They're the ones of course who have stuffed postal boxes with bright yellow mailers with math that was, well, fuzzy and funky at best.
Efforts to get them to answer our questions were as successful as everyone else they dodged. Even when we wondered why it seems that just schools – not animal shelters, convention centers or other such measures – were the only targets in the crosshairs.
And then came the odd resolution at last Tuesday's Medical Lake City Council meeting asking for support of their levy. With Councilwoman Laura Parsons not present, the vote ended in a 3-3 tie and with sharp opinions voiced on both sides.
Councilman Art Kulibert, citing concerns over the high salaries of administrators, spoke out against supporting the resolution.
Longtime Medical Lake schools supporter, Councilman Howard Jorgenson said Kulibert's statements were better suited for a school board meeting and that not supporting the levy would punish students.
So as we await the voters' verdict, there's no time like the present to take that support – or concern – from the rhetoric stage to a personal plan of action.
If there's something you don't like, sitting around complaining does nothing to fix what you might find to be wrong with our schools. Make the school board know you care by attending a meeting near you, voicing your opinion, or offering a solution.
And to our school district officials – you know they collect about 30 cents of every one of you property tax dollars – they can be more open with their many processes. Sometimes we think they forget who really signs their paychecks. Or there's an attitude that only they know best and we simply don't need to know or can't understand.
The perfect time for Cheney schools to begin having a better open-door policy will be with the pending search for a new superintendent now that Keller has announced his retirement.
We would love to see the same openness the city of Cheney used when hiring new Police Chief John Hensley where interested citizens had a chance to meet and greet the final candidates.
These are just a few thoughts and ideas to ponder so when these levies come up for renewal in three years maybe both the concern and rancor can be lessened.
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