Don't let budget cuts undermine state's education

Re: Schools: Senate pill less bitter, April 21.

I found it interesting to see the significant difference between the House and Senate budgets proposed for Florida's public schools for next year. If, in fact, the information in that article is accurate, then the Senate has seen the importance of trying to adequately fund the growth in Florida's schools and has agreed to find the funding necessary to at least address "the barebones education needs of the state." It is a sad testimonial that we are merely seeking to meet the "barebones needs" of an institution as important to the financial future of Florida as education.

One of the first things new businesses or employees hired into a new business ask for is information regarding the quality of the public schools their children will attend. Pinellas County has always been a benchmark in the state and even the nation with respect to programs designed to help all children achieve. However, the most recent budget scenarios in Tallahassee would require even this school system to dramatically reduce the number of staff available to maintain that quality of service to children and families.

On Tuesday, the Pinellas School Board reviewed recommendations from the superintendent that will eliminate more than $28-million from the district's budget in response to the state revenue estimates of 2003-04.

Ironically, on the same day the Times published an article by Tom Tobin describing the efforts of the newly formed Pinellas Education Advocacy Coalition. The coalition is an attempt to unite members of the Pinellas community to seek support for the Senate's budget and secure better funding for public education in Florida. As a businessperson, I would agree with this position. Public education in this state demands the attention of every citizen. Our legislative delegation members are faced with a serious financial dilemma. The resolution of that issue must come from what we feel is important for young people in this state. That same message needs to be clearly communicated to our House and Senate delegates while the session is still debating this critical issue.

"Living within our means," as House Speaker Johnnie Byrd puts it, may not be a realistic option for the future of Florida if it results in a decline in the quality of our public schools.

I would encourage Pinellas County residents and friends of public schools in Florida to seek out your legislative delegation members and encourage them to support the Senate's education budget. While not an ideal solution to Florida's education needs, it does move further toward providing the level of funding and flexibility that local school boards need to provide essential services to their students for next year. As Florida continues to grow, we will have to take a serious look at finding more stable sources of funding for critical services for children and families in the years ahead.

Funding schools makes business sense

As a businessman, parent of two students, and a strong supporter of public schools in Pinellas, I have watched with great concern the debate that is taking place regarding education funding in Tallahassee.

There is no question the quality of education in our community and our state is a strong indicator of the strength of our economy. So it is difficult to understand the position of the House of Representatives in proposing a budget that will not even provide for growth or the usual increases in the cost of doing business. Florida will be adding almost 50,000 new students next year with no consideration on the House side for increased funding to meet their needs. Statewide, health insurance premiums are escalating at double-digit rates. Statistics show we are already losing talented educators to Georgia and Alabama because Florida is not competitive in the area of teacher salaries.

I'm a vice president at Raytheon Corp., the nation's fourth largest defense contractor, and I can't imagine the impact reductions in revenue such as those faced by our public schools would have on my operations. The "bottom line" always relies on a relationship between income and expenditures. My customers provide the source of revenue so vital to maintaining my enterprise. It is my responsibility to do everything I can to ensure that they receive quality service. So it should be with public education in Florida. The parents and taxpayers are the customers of our public schools and should be willing to provide the revenue necessary to receive a quality product.

The Senate has accepted that education challenge and has agreed that, as a growth state, Florida needs to do better for its children. I think we should join in that challenge and endorse the Senate's proposed budget. Florida's future is sitting in the classrooms of our schools today. We can't afford to short-change them by passing a state budget that ignores the impact of growth and inflation on our public schools. The "bottom line" needs to be the success of every child in public schools throughout this state.

How much are we willing to pay as "customers" to ensure this happens?

Stick to accountability for schools

Re: Backlash may be looming on state's school reforms, April 14.

Your third-grader should be able to read the following: My mommy wants me to pass. If he can't, then he doesn't deserve to advance to fourth grade.

To Sally Caron and all the other parents opposing Bush's education reform law: Where is your common sense? So you want to spare your children from being held back now, but what are you going to do when they get to high school and can't read Romeo and Juliet? You can't protect them forever.

How can you justify passing a child who isn't able to read? Granted, the FCAT cannot be the only tool to determine literacy, but Gov. Jeb Bush provided other alternatives. Where does it say that all children deserve to pass without learning the basics? Not much can be accomplished in life without having good reading and comprehension skills.

As two 21-year-old college students, we understand the benefits of parents who set standards for our education. High standards produce success, and we think Bush realizes this. Too many parents think it is not their responsibility to teach their children how to read. It is always someone else's fault for the weaknesses of America's children. Parents should hold themselves accountable.

We feel Bush took a stand against laziness and lack of accountability of parents and their kids for something that will ensure America's intellectual future. This law deserves respect and support.

It's commendable that parents stand up for their children; it proves that they care. However, if they had stood up to their children earlier, this discussion would be irrelevant.

Test is no way to be accountable

Re: Accountability and assistance in education, letter from Jim Horne, commissioner of education, April 21.

The simplistic approach this administration in Florida has chosen to undertake regarding accountability in education is oftentimes mind-numbing. Deciding not to promote students on the basis of a test, denying them a diploma, despite their having met every requirement for graduation - they call that accountability? Denying a third-grader a promotion based on that same test goes to the extreme.

True accountability calls for a thorough evaluation of a student's capabilities, based on multiple quizzes and tests throughout the year, teacher and counselor evaluations, and looking at the entire spectrum of his/her educational experience. Contrary to Mr. Horne's assertions, using the FCAT as the sole determinant for promotion, has been an obstacle to progress and improvement, and not the tool for accountability.

Pepper spray and school security

Re: Chemical over-reaction, editorial, April 19.

I have taught in high schools in five states since the 1960s and retired last year from the Pinellas County School System. I started out in a 500-student school in a mill town in Maine where the "minorities" were Franco- and Italian-Americans and worked my way up to a 2,400-student school in Pinellas County where every racial and ethnic community imaginable is represented. So please accept the validity of my comments concerning this editorial.

Most often I find myself concurring with the opinions expressed by the St. Petersburg Times editorial board, but in this case the position of the board is absolutely wrong! Every school cafeteria in Pinellas County serves way more students at any given time than the physical structure was designed to accommodate. The result is to force into a limited space too many students representing various racial and ethnic communities, competitive members of neighborhood "gangs," and various in-school social cliques. All this "diversity" with, in most cases, too little supervision for the numbers of students present creates an untenable situation. This is not an indictment but simply a statement of the reality as perceived by any long-term teacher in these schools.

Together with the expanding incidents of "gang" fighting, acts of violence and injury related to school incidents that constantly make the pages of the Times, the student "psyche" of the 2000s is far more intense than that of the 1960s. In truth every day a teacher is forced to walk a narrow path between stability and chaos. Most often stability wins the day - but not always!

Every year for the last five or six years in the fall I would ask the administration if this was the year they were issuing flak jackets to each teacher. It was always taken as a joke, but with a knowing shake of the head. Each year the county administration takes a survey of students, teachers, administrators and parents concerning - in part - school security. What do the teachers say concerning security?

Indeed, the Times editorial board should have "walked in the teachers' moccasins" before stating their own "over-reaction" to the use of pepper spray to protect school stability.

Officer had few options

Re: Pepper spray ends fray, gags 40 pupils, April 15.

Spraying the combatants in the middle school fight may not have been the best thing for the school resource officer to do, but she probably didn't have much choice. For one, have you seen some of the middle school boys lately? They could very well have been as big if not bigger than she is.

Then too, there were two boys and the help she probably should have gotten may not have been so readily available. So, she ought to physically separate them by herself?

Even had she been able to manage that, the effort to stop the fight might have hurt one of the children and opened the system up to a lawsuit. She needed to end it quickly, and since it began quickly, I bet, she did the best she could with what she had to work with. It was unfortunate, but things happen.

Let phone companies make do

Re: Telecommunications firms pushing for phone rate hikes.

I think these companies should follow the advice given by Gov. Jeb Bush and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd: "Live within your means."

Read my lips: Make some cuts and balance your budget.

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