GREG YOUNG, Dana Point
As a proud member of CTA and a physics and chemistry teacher at San Clemente High School for the past 24 years, I take offense at Mr. Sedillo’s letter in regard to “You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide.”
Contrary to his assertions, CTA does not prescribe my curriculum nor my method of delivery. CTA, however, does act as an advocate against the very anti-public-school rhetoric that is promulgated by such comments.
I completely appreciate and respect that many Californians, at their own expense and effort, either homeschool their children or send them to a private school. I appreciate that this is both a personal and financial commitment.
But, what if we do as he suggested: give everyone the tax money individually to educate as they saw fit. Sounds fine on the surface until you think about: how will individuals act with your public funds? Is it financially efficient to split the funds up in an infinite number of ways? What kinds of schools will your public tax dollars be sent to?
What he is also missing is that public schools continue to provide services, such as speech pathology and school psychologists, to students who are homeschooled or attend private schools.
In this way, many families who choose private or homeschooling continue to be a part of the services that public schools provide. Most private schools cannot afford these tax-supported services, and without public schools, they would cease to be available for many families.
Public schools are what make America great. Offering all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, an education is unique among nations. Dismantling that will come at great cost.
It’s too simplistic to believe that handing out all of the money to individuals will solve the problems in public education. It would be like using public tax money to build each person a personal road upon which to drive.
The lack of efficiency which that would create far outweighs the problems of traffic congestion on our shared highways.
Let’s solve problems together, rather than destroying public education.
