I read in the front-page article on Dec. 3, 2000, that the school levy can support many worthwhile purposes. I agree. Levy funds can make a difference in the quality of education.

With the passage of this levy, the Harrison County Schools administration can create, through supplanting of state-allocated money with levy funds, a sizable portion of discretionary money. If those in power plan to draw on this discretionary money to only advance our product of education through well-thought-out plans and procedures, then it is incumbent on every voter to vote "yes" on this levy.

It appears to me that the Harrison County Board of Education members and the top-line county administrators could ensure an overwhelming victory for the levy if they would pledge to the voters of Harrison County that this discretionary money will not be used to do the following:

1. Reward administrative assistants or other top-line persons with greater salary supplements than the levy and/or state law allows or provides;

2. Enter into costly and unnecessary schemes that: Benefit political hacks and business cronies at the determent to the education system, encumber the system to long-term commitments and skirt the law;

3. And create positions, such as deputy superintendent, that are unnecessary in this time of decreasing enrollment, ill-advised and lend the appearance as serving as no more than rewards to "buddies."

It appears to me that the question to be asked and answered is: Is the levy important enough that those in power are willing to make the commitment to education with a pledge to the aforementioned conditions?