Letter: Send a “no” message

To the Editor at MN Sun Post:

Q: Why does District 281 keep coming back, year after year, begging for more money?

A: Because they can.

Hypothesis: Whatever sum of money public education is given, they will exhaust it. According to the legislative auditor, Minnesotans spend $10,308 per student – that’s a quarter million dollars per class of 25! We spend 26 percent more, in constant dollars, than we did a decade ago. If there is a crisis, it’s not a funding crisis as much as a spending crisis.

Those of us who oppose this referendum are not conspiring to make kids illiterate. What we are fighting is a large, bloated, inefficient government monopoly that has, over time, become paralyzed by its own titanic bulk and self-inflicted, agenda-driven insanity.

For that reason, I would ask anyone who is unsure about the referendum to answer a simple question: Does it fix what’s truly broken?

Many parents would take half of what is spent in government schools in the form of a tax credit or voucher – if we had the choice. We don’t. The choice we are gratuitously offered is Public School A or Public School B. That is the beginning, middle and end of their debate on school choice.

By voting “no” you’re not punishing kids. Rather, you’re sending a clear message to the local politicians who are trying their hardest to tune us out.

Jerry L
Crystal

Tags: 281, Referendum