This week, the Viking Jazz Fest has invited jazz bands from all over the state to, please pardon the pun, come toot their own horns. The North Kitsap High jazz band will play a mini concert of their own, then lend the stage to their guests. At 7:30 p.m. tonight, the top six jazz bands will play three-song concerts to compete for first place.

It promises to be a fun, community-oriented event … made possible through financial support from the current North Kitsap School levy.

That same levy that’s up for renewal next week.

At the risk of sounding repetitive, the ballots for the school levy special election must be postmarked or dropped off at the polling station — the Poulsbo Fire Department, 911 Liberty Road, Poulsbo — by Tuesday.

Without community support via levy dollars, many extra curricular activities would suffer. Some programs, like drama and music, don’t charge participation fees, which makes them open to all students no matter their families’ financial situation.

While extra-curricular activities are indeed extra, we’d argue that students learn as much through participation as they do in the classroom. Often these activities act as an incentive for students to maintain a decent grade point average.

Levy money supports in-class activities too, helping pay teacher salaries and learning materials.

We owe it to our future generations to foot the bill for their education and to make their experience as diverse as possible.

After all, when you look back on your high school experience, do you recall biology tests as fondly as you do Friday night football games? Likely not.