Letter: Urges opposition to school cuts

The continued budget reductions of the school district are difficult to accept. For several years now programs have been chipped away.

Sadly, the school board is very close to resolving us to mediocrity. Our teachers, support staff and students are terrific, but the overall programming and delivery have been affected in a negative way as we continue to accept cuts.

The idea of reduced help in our kindergarten and elementary classrooms, in math help for those who are struggling, and the grievous cuts to the middle school program in terms of important classes for life skills, and the foreign language and band cuts are too much.

This community values education, and I believe the school board must dip into the fund balance a bit to provide the quality of education that this community has stood for, deserves and demands.

The high school media center is the place to be at 7 p.m. Monday, March 22. My hope is that the 100 people who attended the last meeting about the cuts all show up again and everyone should bring a friend or two.

Please let your school board members know that you care about our K-12 education and do not want to see it dismantled. Call them. E-mail them. Be vocal. Show up.

I speak as a former board member. I would not approve of the cuts to the student contact piece, about $200,000. The fund balance is very large and it is made up of our tax dollars that were meant to be used for education.

Please use some of the $7-million balance to keep quality education a priority in this community.

Tags: town of river falls, communities, opinion, letters, k12, education, school