Voters who choose to hit the polls Tuesday will face many tough decisions.

Many major offices are up for grabs including governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

I would hold those three offices as among the most important in establishing a lawful, organized and effective government in Alabama.

However, tangled among the state and local offices up for grabs is a very small item regarding a 5-mill tax to benefit the Demopolis City School System.

First off, I cannot stress enough that this is not a new tax. This has been in place for many years and comes up for renewal every 10 years. It’s simply time to renew it.

I stand firmly behind this tax and support it in full. The dollars generated by the 5 mill totals more than $600,000 to the school system. It makes up nearly 4 percent of the system’s budget.

Losing these funds would be devastating, not only to the school system but also to the community as a whole. There would be a tidal wave of bad news and almost nothing would be spared.

Included in the Wednesday edition of the Blackbelt Gazette was a section where we interviewed all the kindergarteners in the Demopolis School System. We asked them each what they wanted to be when they grow up.

Your future firemen, teachers, doctors and policemen are in this group. Without these 5 mill, their futures become more clouded.

In voting to renew the 5-mill tax, the city will be making a tremendous investment in our children. That investment comes at an affordable point of entry, 50 cents of every $100 of your homes value. The payback on this investment is limitless.

I hope when you mark your ballots Tuesday that you will join me in supporting this renewal Our school system, its employees, its students and our community deserve no less.

Jason Cannon is publisher of the Demopolis Times.