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Give public schools the resources they need to succeed

Re: Vouchers.

The teachers, support staff and students of Florida's schools are the most important reason we are seeing rising student achievement. In all of my many conversations related to school improvement and student success, I have never heard anyone other than Gov. Jeb Bush say that they were improving their school or instruction because of the threat of private school vouchers.

If the state of Florida wishes to uniformly improve public schools and student achievement, the legislators simply need to put more resources in the schools and communities where they are needed most. Taking public school dollars and diverting them to private institutions never made sense. The governor and the legislators need not spend countless hours and taxpayer dollars trying to reconstruct the voucher plans to skirt the court ruling. They simply need to fully fund the class size amendment and the pre-K amendment. The voters of Florida have already spoken.

What teachers like myself are concerned about is what would be left of the public school system if voucher programs ever grow to a size that they would dismantle public education. Who will be accountable for the children left behind then?

Let vouchers aid students

Re: Court throws out vouchers, Jan. 6.

The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that it is wrong to use tax money to support education in private schools. Hello, what about the students?

As long as our public schools remain unacceptable, scholastically, I feel strongly that the laws should be amended to allow vouchers to aid in the education of Florida's children. At least until the education in the public schools is brought into a quality position.

I also do not believe that money alone will save our public schools. I feel that the attitudes of the students need an adjustment. If a classroom camera were set up to see, firsthand, what the students do that hampers the learning process, officials would be able to adjust and correct the situations that arise every day. It seems to me that our teachers are hampered by not being backed up by all of those above them when they communicate their everyday student problems in our public schools.

Don't undercut public schools

Re: Stop the voucher fight, editorial, Jan. 6.

Why does our governor support taking money out of the public school system to fund private education? He says that vouchers allow low-income families to pull children from "failing" public schools, yet private schools are not even tested for effectiveness. Why not also issue "Taxi Vouchers" to those who don't want to use "failed" public transportation systems? Or issue "Gun Vouchers" and "Fire Extinguisher Vouchers" to those who feel police and fire departments are "failing" to protect them?

Using his logic of shifting money from public to private only further erodes the ability of our government to take care of our needs. Why not instead put public money into those public services that we deem "failed" and bring them up to the standards we demand?

When we abandon our public schools, we abandon our future. Gov. Jeb Bush called the state Supreme Court decision to overturn school vouchers "a sad day for accountability." I call it a new day for holding ourselves accountable for quality public education.

A system beyond repair

Re: Stop the voucher fight.

This editorial urges "lawmakers to get back to fixing public schools." I have bad news for your editorial writers. Whenever we choose, we must always choose from among options actually available.

It is not possible to "fix the public schools." They are "broken as designed." As long as we mandate attendance at school, especially by those who have no desire to be there, we mandate wasting our time and money not solely on the troublemakers but also on those who are too distracted by them to absorb whatever education is available.

Still shortchanging education

Re: Percentage politics, editorial, Jan. 3.

This editorial exposes still another ploy of the Legislature and governor to evade responsibility for non-enforcement of the constitutional amendment on class size. Their "65 percent solution" is a zero percent solution.

How many more years must we tolerate inaction while government pretends that underfunding isn't the primary problem in education? Doesn't the fact that Florida ranks 48th in per-pupil spending on education register at all with our politicos? That Florida education generally ranks below average?

Since 1989 the high courts in 20 states have decided that low levels of education funding deprive students of their constitutional right to an adequate education, and have proven a relationship between adequate funding and improved education.

When will Florida's Supreme Court act to protect the constitutional rights of Florida's schoolchildren by mandating the necessary increases in spending for education?

An abundance of busybodies

Re: Nickname nonsense by George Will, Jan. 5.

I don't often agree with George Will but this column was an exception. The NCAA (Nitwits Complaining & Acting Asinine) is only one example of, as Will refers to them, offended busybodies. This country has come to a sad state when too many people with too little useful to do want to dictate to the rest of us what to say, think, feel and believe. We have become a nation of whiners who cry out for relief any time someone or something hurts our paper-thin feelings.

From the self-styled PC Police to the religious fundamentalists, and all those in between, there is always someone wanting to control what others can do - or not do. We would all be better off if those who want things a particular way would follow their beliefs in private and in silence and leave the rest of us alone to follow ours.

A telling tune

Now that the holiday season is over and all the radio stations have stored their Christmas music, they may want to play some old time top hits. A good start would be Frank Sinatra's top hit, which I'm sure is a favorite of George W. Bush: I'll Do It My Way.

[Last modified January 9, 2006, 00:56:11]