LETTER: Outrage over Walker’s school budget misplaced

To the Telegram:

In Friday’s news, the article, “Officials express outrage at governor’s proposal for schools”, suggests the expansion of private school vouchers in the Superior school district area is simply unfair and insane. The program, called the Parental Choice Program, provides taxpayer-funded vouchers for students to attend private schools.

Both of our state elected representatives, Sen. Bob Jauch, and Rep. Nick Milroy, and Superior School Superintendent Janna Stevens, deplored the idea that parents should be given the opportunity to decide whether the Superior public school system is the best choice for their children. Their main argument against this proposal is these parents will be using money paid by taxpayers to fund their children’s education at a private school.

But, should this be an issue? First of all, Superior High School principal Kent Bergum and Rick Flaherty, SMS principal, believe they provide the best education for the children of Superior and have said, “Superior High School students in 2012 had their highest ACT scores since the early 1990s.”

If that is true, then the school voucher program would be a moot issue. Why would parents want to transfer their children to a private school when the public school system provides excellent education?

On the other hand, if these individuals are just beating their own chest and the schools aren’t providing as good an education as would be available in a private school, why shouldn’t parents have a choice on what would be best for their children. After all, they are their children.

Sen. Jauch stated: “He cut spending on public education … and he expanded the opportunity for students to go to private schools at taxpayers’ expense.”

What are the parents of these students, if not taxpayers?

In reality, what is happening is parents are being given the opportunity to be reimbursed the taxes they pay to the public school system so that it can be used to fund their children’s education at a private school.

If the administrators of Superior public school system wants to ensure they receive appropriate educational funds, they simply need to ensure that their educational quality is as good as, or better than, any local private school.

Duane Anderson,

Superior

Tags: opinion, letters