Can Schools and Taxpayers Mix?

The article "Behind the Funding Crisis Facing US Public Schools," May 20, fairly addresses attitudes that affect public school funding. The author mentioned an important "chicken-and-egg" problem: taxpayer reluctance to pay more until performance improves, and educator insistence that improvement requires money first.

The District of Columbia provides especially poignant support for the taxpayer side. United States Department of Education data show that District of Columbia public schools lead every state in the country in per-pupil expenditures ($9,259 for the 1990-91 school year). Yet they are arguably among the worst in the US.

The same data show state expenditures varying down to less than one-third of the D.C. level. Even if one disregards Washington as an anomaly, I doubt that one can show from this data any direct correlation between performance and expenditure level. Other factors must be at work here.

The growing support for education vouchers indicates that competition may serve better than more spending. John Dendahl, Santa Fe, N.M. Cut the fashion critique

In reading "Dispute Over Faculty Has Made Harvard Law School `Beirut on the Charles'," June 7, I was struck by the description of Inga Bernstein as "short-haired, denim-clad." Careful study of this article reveals that not one other single haircut or item of apparel is described with respect to those quoted. This is indeed a curious kind of reporting discrimination! Eileen Detlefsen, Bellevue, Ohio

Due to an editing mistake in the Opinion page article "Cambodia Needs Aid, Not Just Elections," June 15, a phrase misidentified the source of human rights violations in Cambodia. It should have read "...the oppressive corruption and human rights violations of the Vietnamese-installed government of the State of Cambodia."

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Can Schools and Taxpayers Mix?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/1993/0621/21184.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe