LETTER: Vote yes for school bonds now, or society will pay later

Vote “YES!”

All across America, and in particular here in Kalispell, an unfortunate thing has evolved; simply put, what has evolved is that just about the only time that American voters get to vote directly on a tax is when our schools are in need of update! The tendency is to vote “NO” on a tax without giving real thought to the issue and the need for the revenue.

I personally want to encourage voters on the upcoming School Facilities Bond to think carefully before voting on this issue; and consider voting “YES” based upon the need for updates on our school facilities rather than just blindly voting “NO” because they are opposed to any increase in taxes!

Believe me, we will pay for educating our younger generation now, or we will pay for our failure to educate them later! I know about this personally because as the chief presenter for our Parenting with Dignity program nationwide I have spoken with inmates in nearly every one of the 87 prisons that use our parenting program.

Most of the men attending the classes that I visit in prisons lack even a high-school diploma! It costs anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000 per year to incarcerate one inmate in an American prison!

It costs a very small fraction of that to educate a child in our schools! Vote “YES” for the Facilities Bond and lower your own taxes because each child successfully educated here in our public schools is one less convict to incarcerate later! (And think of the misery and heartache that is prevented in the process!)

 Please, seriously consider voting “YES” for Schools! —Mac Bledsoe, Kalispell (President, Parenting with Dignity)