Letter: Budget cuts will harm local education

In last week’s Journal, I read with dismay a letter comparing the negotiation process of unionized industrial workers and that of the public workers.

The author felt the public has a choice in whether they purchase a specific product but that taxpayers do not have a choice in purchasing the product our schools systems produce and that is education.

He said when union industrial workers negotiate for their benefit package, the viability of the enterprise is at jeopardy unless the differences are passed on to the shareholders.

The benefit package the public employees earn is derived directly from the taxpayers and the result has a direct correlation to our children’s education. Can we afford to “pass?”

Per Superintendent Tom Westerhaus, this will cost the school district a million dollars and surrounding schools will average a cost of $550/student.

Will the “end product,” education, be the same as it is today with that that kind of funding loss? Teachers are already asked to do more with less, so I doubt it seriously.

When programs and staff are cut, will our children have the same or better education today as they will have in the coming years?

As a former public employee (teacher), I can’t see how this is possible. Putting 40+ students in the classroom and cutting programs, the end product will not be the same.

The top 15% will survive because they are already independent learners. The bottom 15% will also survive because of federal funds that will always be allocated to assist these students, but the middle 70% will struggle because there will not be enough individual instruction for one teacher to help that many students.

Tags: opinion, letters, politics, clifton