K-12 shouldn’t be sacrificed

I would like to commend Nicole Copeland of Goshen, Alabama on the letter she wrote to the editor on March 9, 2001, concerning "Higher Education can afford cuts; K-12 cannot"

She brought out the facts better than anyone else on the situation, of Pro-ration. If children don’t get their education in K-12, there will be no need for colleges and other higher institutions of learning.

Iremember when the Special Education Trust Fund was created.

It was stated that enough monies would flow into the coffers that there would not be a need for any further taxes for schools. Well, every year when the legislature meets, the big lobbyists are right there in Montgomery telling the budget committees that they have to have more. I am not against public education, but THEY HAVE to learn how to live within their budgets.

It is common knowledge that if they try to be conservative and wind up with a little surplus, their allotments will shrink or stay the same; but if they exceed their allotments, next year’s budget will give them more. In other words they are rewarded for over-spending. That’s not the way it should be.

Why are many parents pulling their students from public education and putting them in private schools? Something is wrong with public education and money alone will not fix it. Of course parents must be more involved in school activities and support the administrators who are struggling to cope with the problems. School officials must have the ability to enforce strict discipline, even if it means a return to paddling. Children will push just as far as they can to have their way, but they love you if you have the ability to enforce ‘tough love’, and they willrespect you a whole lot more.

P. S. I also commend you on your editorial "K-12 cuts run deeper than higher ed cuts". I have a list of where $206,937,006 (that’s almost a quarter million) flows out of the Education Trust Fund. These dollars are for NON-CLASSROOM or NON-SCHOOL agencies. many of those dollars go to the legislators’ pet projects. This is not as it should be.

Jean Boutwell

Troy  

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