equal funding to K-12

This letter to the editor is in response to the Messenger’s editorial of Friday, March 9, 2001.

I am writing this letter because I can’t keep quiet. Few issues have stirred me quite as deeply as the current debacle in Montgomery. I am bitterly disappointed by the lack of leadership by our Governor. I am disheartened by the shortsightedness of our elected legislators. I am perplexed by the opinions of many Alabamians. I am disgusted by the "let’s-put-our-heads-in-the-sand" attitude of many of our corporations. But I was not expecting an about-face by the local paper. I was under the impression that we had an amicable town-gown relationship at work in Troy.

I have been a resident of Troy for over 15 years. I have become invested in the community, in my daughters’ schools, in my church, and in my place of employment.

I love my kids and want to see them given every chance to excel, to be academically and artistically challenged, to become decent and grounded human beings. I support the efforts of K-12 toward that end.

However, I also love the kids I teach at the university. Many of them are first-generation college students who equally deserve chances to excel, to be academically and artistically challenged, to become decent and grounded human beings. My colleagues and I work very hard at providing stimulating learning environments. But we cannot fulfill our contractual agreement with students (which, in essence, we enter into when they pay tuition) without adequate financial support. We are training students to enter the corporate world, the teaching profession, and professional occupations such as law, medicine, and engineering.

How does The Messenger propose we do that without supplies, without technology, without well-trained faculty, without adequate facilities, without support personnel, without access to the latest research, without adequate research materials, and without cutting-edge library materials?

My daughters deserve the best. My university students deserve the best. In a few short years, my daughters will be university students. If we stay on our present misguided course in this state, I’ll probably be paying out-of-state tuition.

Diane D. Orlofsky, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Music Education

Troy State University

March 17, 2001 10 PM  

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