Deukmejian and Education Funds

I would like to voice my support to the closing comments presented by Assemblyman Bill Leonard. I truly believe in the saying, “bringing the education dollar back in the classroom where it belongs.” It is high time we put our money where our mouth is and do something to improve the quality of education in our state.

I believe that we should reduce the bureaucratic overhead in our state’s public schools. How can it be that a locksmith, employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will earn an income in the neighborhood of $70,000 while a teacher, with at least four years of college education, will earn an approximate average income of only $30,000? I feel that these are the types of overhead that our schools can eliminate to enhance the position of the teacher in the classroom. School district spending on utilities, maintenance, unusual expenses for administrators, specialists, and non-educators is way out of proportion to the money being spent on our educators themselves and is not only wasteful but also self-defeating.

I feel we are lucky that our teachers are trying their best to cope with the situation even though they have every reason to be apathetic.

I believe we should support our educators by not only increasing our funds invested in their profession but also in elevating their social stature. The way to do this to make our teachers’ salaries comparable to those of engineers and other professionals in our society. In this way, the teaching profession itself will attract many more of the best people qualified to instruct our state’s pupils. This in turn will improve the quality of our classrooms.

LANCE M. OISHI

Hacienda Heights