Letters to the Editor

Op-ed | Candidates kind and open to students’ questions

Five students from Gig Harbor and Tacoma researched and interviewed candidates for the 26th Legislative District state Senate seat: Incumbent Sen. Deb Krishnadasan, D-Gig Harbor, and challenger Rep. Michelle Calider, R-Gig Harbor. The students of Mimmi Beck, a Gig Harbor ACT/SAT tutor and college admissions coach, wrote essays based on their experiences.

My name is Matthew Titus, and I am a senior at Gig Harbor High School doing Running Start through TCC. I am interested in becoming a lawyer when I am older, and talk with my dad about topics such as how high taxes in Washington State have become. I was excited to hear different politicians’ viewpoints.

Meeting Michelle Caldier seemed like it might be very intimidating. However, I was excited to get to understand more about her. She was very kind and open to discussing questions I had. It was a very special experience for someone my age to have a conversation with someone like her.

Matthew Titus

Michelle told us how important it will be if she is elected that “Republicans are back in the room when budgets are being discussed.” She also explained how “out of reach” it is for young adults to become future home owners. This is something that concerns me, because someday I want to own a home. She made me think differently about how much people know about where their tax dollars are going. There isn’t much budget clarification for the public. She will best represent people who are business owners in Washington.

Interviewing Deb Krishnadasan was also an exciting experience. I’ve come to realize how empathetic of a person she is. I also was curious to see how different interviewing Deb would be from Michelle. But, I was pleasantly surprised that both were very kind and open to questions I had.

Deb enlightened me on the complexity of how schools are able to get federal funding. She shared a recent federal situation that has since been revised, when the federal administration halted funding for public schools. This shocked me because I had no idea of the severity of budget problems, such as schools being unable to hire teachers to work this school year. She also shared that, “4-6% of Peninsula School Districts funding comes from federal”. This is a small percentage; however, schools have no savings which makes this a bigger deal then it seems. Schools “have to do more with less”. Deb made me think differently and want to understand why the funding for schools is so complex. Deb will best represent people who are wanting to improve schools in Washington.

After meeting both candidates, I encourage everyone to do their research on these two strong candidates and go out and vote in the primary.

Matthew Titus

Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor High School