Court-Ordered Spending for Schools

Your article “High Costs for Low Grades,” May 18, about the failure of a court-ordered spending plan for Kansas City schools mentioned that federal Judge Russell Clark ordered the local school board to approve a tax increase. There seems to be something distinctly wrong about a federal judge ordering a tax hike. The U.S. Constitution clearly states that the authority to impose taxes rests with the Congress, not with federal judges. Otherwise we would have taxation without representation.

Not only was Clark’s plan a massive waste of taxpayer dollars, it was also unconstitutional.

Thomas Oster

Pacific Palisades

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So, with an Olympic-sized swimming pool with six diving boards, a padded wrestling room, an indoor track and a gymnasium stocked with professional equipment, Kansas City schools couldn’t teach people reading writing and mathematics? I wonder why.

European schools, which regularly beat U.S. schools in the academic sweepstakes, don’t have high school athletics. In the U.S., practically every applicant for a teaching job is asked if he can coach. While many who can coach are also good teachers, finding a job applicant who can appreciate poetry or math as well as a 360-degree slam dunk is difficult. When push comes to shove, American high schools often hire for coaching ability, leaving many academics looking for jobs.

Jim Corbett

San Clemente