If you are an area resident that has no kids in the Tahoma School District you might be asking yourself, “why should I vote for the 2011 Tahoma school bond issue?”

The selfish answer is simple. The continued ability of the Tahoma School District to be rated at the top of our state’s education system will continue to drive housing demand in the Maple Valley area.

Increased housing demand will translate to higher property values. If the bond doesn’t pass and our school system becomes mediocre, property values will fall.  If you don’t believe me, just compare our values with the housing markets in some of our neighboring school districts in south King and north Peirce counties.

You might be reading this thinking that increased home values will lead to increased property taxes.   That’s not the case.  The taxing authorities have the ability to raise or lower their tax percentages so the revenue they collect from property taxes stays relatively constant.  This might not seem right, but compare your property tax bills over the past few years of declining home values and you will see this phenomenon first hand.

I won’t list all the other reasons of the importance of education, but I will say that it is the key to the future of our country.  Even though our political system has major issues, the USA is still the best country in the world to do business in.

Having the smartest people, or at least a lot of smart people, will continue to make America great.

Vote yes for the Tahoma school bond issue on April 26.

Mark Cairns

Maple Valley