LETTER: The black hole that is education funding
In her Saturday letter to the editor, Sheila Morse complains about football stadiums getting in the way of school funding. While I, too, support funding for schools, I also have a question: How many activities do we have to give up so we can send our last dollar to education?
Don’t get me wrong. The people working in the professions that educate our kids deserve their pay. But think about it. Education gets a slice of taxes from almost every tax we have. It is also supposed to be getting a slice of the rainy day fund. You name the tax, and I am sure there is “education” written on it somewhere. In fact, the past governor hiked taxes by more than a billion dollars for education. The result? The schools and playgrounds are still in disrepair, the teachers are ready to strike because they haven’t received a raise, and the kids are still lacking the three R’s.
Where the heck is all the money going? One guess is that the school budget is overloaded with costs allocated to items other than teachers, students and schools. So how much is enough? Three billion? Four billion? What magical figure will ensure our kids learn their ABCs, get the teachers a raise and make the unions happy, yet allow the taxpayer to keep his wallet in his pocket? In other words, When will enough be enough?