By LEE D. VAN LANDUYT | Hillsboro
The well-being and education of every child should be our top priority. Children are our legacy! Older generations retire as youth takes their rightful place in society. They are becoming our leaders and caregivers.
Our entrenched conservative state legislature has steadily defunded PUBLIC education. In response, Progressive State Sen. Chris Larson wrote the following: “As ranking member of the Senate Education and Universities Committees, I’ve consistently pushed back against attempts to undermine our public schools and shift an ever-increasing amount of resources toward unaccountable private schools. What you may not know is that we spend about $200 million each year to fund private education in our state that comes directly from state aid intended for neighborhood public schools.”
“Voters across the state have approved hundreds of referendums to boost public school funding in recent years, because they know how important education is to strong communities. The voucher programs that take this ever-increasing share of money out of our PUBLIC SCHOOLS operate outside of public view with little regulation, no community input, and almost zero transparency…”
Our Constitution demands SEPARATION of church and state. Is this syphoning off of public money to unaccountable private schools appropriate? Definitely NOT!
