Setting aside a bond measure, voters in the Renton School District again demonstrated their  support for their schools with the overwhelming approval of two key levies critical to the day-to-day operation of Renton’s schools.

The $97 million bond measure was a different matter, although it is needed to help meet “great needs” in the district. We would encourage the School Board to seriously consider placing the measure on the April 17 ballot, if it fails, as expected, but by only a small margin.

That small margin seems to indicate a real base of support for the building and renovating of schools, even in continuing tough economic times.

What’s disturbing about this special election is that the potential existed for an even steeper uphill battle for the bond measure, especially since it needs a 60 percent yes vote for approval.

Many voters – hundreds – didn’t notice that they had to turn over their ballot to vote on a third measure, the technology levy, which needed a simple majority for passage. Luckily, the bond was on the front page, thus hard to miss.

Voters are told to continue voting on the back page, but that’s easy to miss. The school district didn’t learn there was a two-sided ballot until after it was mailed. In the future, the county’s Elections Division needs to communicate better with jurisdictions about the layout of ballots, especially when there are so few issues on which to vote. Such notice would have allowed volunteers early on to include a reminder about the  two-sided ballot in their calls to voters.

A close-to-home reason why schools important

Why our education system is so vitally important to our economic future was on full display Tuesday at Boeing Field.

There, regional leaders announced a six-point plan to strengthen the infrastructure that supports our aerospace industry.  A key piece of that infrastructure is an educated workforce.

Building that infrastructure, which also includes transportation improvements and environmentally responsible permitting processes, is a commitment all our local governments must make. Renton has already made that commitment in its efforts to help Boeing expand its 737 plant to meet a record backlog of orders and to build the new 737 MAX.

This is a countywide effort, following on the heels of an already-announced statewide effort to keep Washington at the forefront of airplane production.

These efforts simply can’t be allowed to fail.