ALG Editor’s Note: As noted in yesterday’s column from ALG Chairman Howie Rich, “American Needs ‘Change Parents Can Believe In,’” private schools need to become more affordable. And clearly, as noted in today’s letter to the editor, that is a belief shared by people of all political persuasions:
Dear Editor:
As a life-long Democrat one would think I would oppose school choice. Most Dems say we have to concentrate on fixing public schools before allowing school choice. But it is unfair to experiment with our children’s education while we do that. Besides, it is my firm opinion that we have spent 30 years on the fix-the-public-schools debate, spent millions of dollars on the goal and gotten nowhere. So maybe we should try the democratizing private schools by doing what Republican’s like best — providing a market place incentive to improvement. Allow school choice and allow parents to use their taxpayer dollars at private schools. It is our money after all.
I am furious that my school choice in Bennington, VT is a substandard school where colleges who have already accepted students from Mount Anthony Union High School, send these students back to the district before they are allowed to enroll to get remedial training that the h.s. should have been doing in the first place.
I chose to send my eldest to private school on a nearly full scholarship. Others in my community — drs, lawyers, business owners — have done the same because our public school has failed every year since we arrived here in 2000.
My youngest is going to the substandard school because I can no longer afford even the small amount charged by the private school. So, I’m taking a huge chance with something that my daughter only gets one chance at — the basic K-12 education.
When I argue this with my mother, she bemoans the fate of the public school system should we allow school choice to happen. Public schools will never improve to where they need to be to compete in this world because we don’t have the political will or the money to make it happen. So, why should we force our children into a substandard education when better education is available? It is criminal if we do.
—Kathryn B. Creedy, Bennington, VT
