The bond before Richland School District voters will pay for much-needed improvements and replacement of aged facilities, as well as new schools that will ease the overcrowding at the middle schools and the south Richland elementary schools. I urge voters to support this bond.

If you are unconvinced of the need for the improvements, come observe students and teachers in a classroom at Chief Joseph bundled up in coats and hats during class time. Try walking the crowded halls at Enterprise during a class break. Visit the current HomeLink facility and see how they are shoehorned into the leased space currently used. Or visit my school, Sacajawea Elementary, and see our tiny art "classroom," a former locker room next to the gym -- the gym that is also the cafeteria. If you visit on a rainy day, watch out for the garbage cans placed to catch water leaking through the roof!

Inadequate, antiquated and crowded facilities make teaching and learning more difficult. I hope the voters of the Richland School District will approve the bond, and help our schools move into the 21st century.

BENT BROWN, Richland