Levy takes center stage

It's a free country, which means you can vote without having the foggiest notion what you're voting on, or even why. Unfortunately, an uninformed vote counts exactly the same as one that is based on meticulous analysis and consideration.

If you want to fulfill your civic duty before casting a ballot on the Coeur d'Alene School District's maintenance and operation levy March 12 - and we hope you do - information aplenty is available, and as easy to digest as a cup of coffee and some give and take with friends and neighbors.

Tonight at 5 at Canfield Middle School, the public is invited to an open house to view remodel plans made possible by last year's approved school bond. At 6, members of the school board and district administrators will host an informal community chat. Anyone is welcome to attend, have a cup of coffee, ask questions and share opinions.

The same format will be followed on Feb. 25 at Sorensen Magnet School.

These will not be lectures or hard-to-swallow sales pitches. You won't be asked under intense pressure to buy a timeshare. You will be invited to share whatever's on your mind and to gather as much information as you need to make the best decision possible, for you, for your family, for the community.

And if you're too busy or don't care for the open-meeting option, the district's website, cdaschools.org, offers a two-page fact sheet that hits all the big levy issues and takes just a few minutes to digest.

As fascinating as readers' viewpoints on guns, abortion and a statement from a certain school board member might be, they pale in comparison to the importance of this levy and the power you hold to shape its outcome. Pass or fail, the levy will have a dramatic and lasting impact on thousands of Kootenai County families. With your help, we hope to share many perspectives on the levy between now and March 12.