Imagine a day at work without technology. How would you contact clients or co-workers at another location? Can you assess, build, revise or repair without meters, or computers, or a power source? Can you run tests, analyze data or control variables without a single technological tool? How did you get to work — in a building with no heat or lights — to begin with?

This scenario may seem ridiculous, but I want to make it clear that technology affects every aspect of business and economic success. It makes it possible for the work we do to be more accurate, more efficient, more effective and more sustainable. This is true for research and development,

manufacturing and construction, marketing and sales, finance, skilled trades — virtually every business sector imaginable.

How are your career options currently impacted by technology and your ability to use it to its full potential? How much more crucial will it be for today’s fifth-graders when they enter the workforce? Our students will be expected to have an understanding of technology and its implications. It is essential for all of us that we as a community do our best to equip Federal Way’s next generation to compete in the global economy. Instructing them in technology basics, such as keyboarding and calculators, is as necessary as knowing how to read when it comes to economic survival.

But if we want our kids to do more than survive — if we want them to thrive, innovate and excel — we must consider the lightning-fast technological developments in every field, and prepare them to understand and utilize these tools.

With companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft constantly changing the face of technology, it is important that our children are able to keep pace with their peers in other communities, states and countries. Washington state government does not provide funding for technology in schools; it is critical that we as a community allow for the continued funding for technological education in our schools. As a community, we need to recognize that one of the best ways to prepare our students for the future is to allow them to have state-of-the-art technological resources in their classrooms.

This Federal Way School District technology levy has been structured to coincide with a decrease in the construction bond measure collections so that your contribution to these funds combined will remain level through the next six years.

The board of directors of the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the passage of the Federal Way School District’s technology levy.

Ballots are due Feb. 9. Please support the continued success of our students and vote “yes” for this levy.