Voters give boost to education

The voters have spoken, and apparently they're in a generous mood this year.

School funding requests across the valley (with only a couple of exceptions) earned approval from voters on Tuesday. The ballot issues included some big-dollar requests - $688,000 for Kalispell schools and almost $400,000 for Whitefish schools - plus smaller levy amounts at many other schools.

Voting on school funding presents some interesting choices. For one, these are the only taxes people get to vote on directly, so general anti-tax sentiment often gets mixed into the debate about educational excellence and maintaining school programs.

And levy votes mean that a lot of people - senior citizens, empty-nesters and others without children in the schools - face decisions about whether to tax themselves more to pay for government services they no longer use.

To people's credit, they came out Tuesday and decided to vote with their pocketbooks to support local educational efforts.

We always have been strong backers of education and are glad others are, too. In the end it's the children who will benefit.

Speaking of generosity, some of it also is needed to help rebuild Glacier National Park trails.

The "Adopt a Trail" campaign organized by Glacier Bank and the Glacier National Park Fund aims to raise $150,000 for trails in the park.

Trails (along with roads) got hammered by a massive rainstorm in November 2007, and it has been estimated that the cost of repairing Glacier's trails could be $3 million. More damage may be found, too, as snowcover melts off of the park this spring.

If you want to put your money where your feet may be headed, contributions to the "Adopt a Trail" campaign can be deposited at any Glacier Bank branch. Donations also may be sent to the Glacier National Park Fund, P.O. Box 5600, Whitefish, MT, 59937. Or people can contribute through the Web site www.glaciernationalparkfund.org

Anyone who has ever hiked in Glacier knows that the park's trails are really pathways to paradise, so helping rebuild them is a solid investment in a precious resource.