Renton’s voters are being asked to help ensure their kid’s present and their future when they decide the fate of two levies and a bond measure Feb. 14.

Renton residents have always been generous toward their schools and have been rewarded with remodeled elementary schools, improving graduation rates and some big-time awards.

One levy is the familiar Maintenance and Operations Replacement Levy that voters are asked to renew every four years. Maintenance and operations make up about a third of the district’s budget

A Technology Levy is part of the district’s long-term technology plan. It provides for math, reading and writing instruction, training, computers and hardware and more. Technology is the future and Renton’s students need to be ready for that future.

Even if you haven’t been there, you can imagine what it’s like to walk down the hall with 1,400 students at McKnight Middle School, the largest school in the district. McKnight is overcrowded, which hampers learning and teaching; a new middle school is long overdue.

The Building for a Lifetime of Learning School Building Improvement Bond would  raise $97 million to build a new 800-student middle school at the current Renton Academy site in the northern part of the district, among other projects.

The bond would also cover renovation of the pool at Lindbergh High School and improvements, upgrades and modernization of other schools.

Of course, there is a cost that property owners will bear on their property taxes for all three measures. But it’s a small cost, $14 a month on a median-priced home of $252,000.

We won’t figure out how many lattes you can buy with $14. Without question, our schools are worth it.

There’s an immediate downside if any of the measures fail – the flip side of all those positives. An M and O levy failure means, among others, program and staff cuts; McKnight gets more crowded and learning suffers if the bond measure fails.

It might be tempting when making a decision to factor in the recent state Supreme Court’s ruling reinforcing the state’s obligation to pay for all basic education.

Efforts are under way to fully meet that obligation, but those efforts will take years to bear fruit and the need for local support will always remain.  There always will be local levies and bond measures to pay for major capital projects. Those are just a fact of life.

The Renton Reporter recommends a yes vote on the two levies and bond measure on the Feb. 14 ballot.