To the editor:

Most members of the school board are trying to convince the voters that the $59 million bond issue is important and necessary to the continued growth and health of USD 497. Unfortunately, it is not the voters who will foot the bill. It is the residents who pay property tax in the district who will end up feeling the weight of the bond issue. Renters and college students get a free pass on these costs.

However, if this proposed bond issue is so necessary, then each component should be able to stand on its own merit. The taxpayers are not state or federal legislators, who trade their votes on some issue they don’t like to get a vote from someone else on an issue they do like. Since we are the ones paying the bills, we should get to pick and choose what we are willing to pay for. This will also give the school board a clear picture of what direction the voters in this community wish to take the school district, instead of giving the false impression that we approve of each part of the bond issue, when we only voted for it because we knew that Broken Arrow needed to be replaced.

Given the choice of voting for something I need and having to accept a couple of things I do not think I want; I will forgo the item I need. The school district’s all-or-nothing approach to this bond issue is misguided and will possibly lead to its rejection. I, for one, don’t appreciate them trying to sell me a bill of goods.

Ken Meyer,

Lawrence