Covering the cost of educating kids

Re “Tapped, schools turn to parents,” April 20

We are witnessing the beginning of privatization of the public schools. Wealthy parents will reach into their pockets to help finance their children’s schools, but schools in low-income neighborhoods will have even fewer resources than they have this year, and many of those children will receive a less-enriched education and negatively affect California’s economy for decades to come.

Wendell H. Jones

Ojai

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This is a sad commentary, and as a father of a schoolteacher and grandfather of three children attending or about to attend public schools, I am concerned with the impact that the pending budget cuts will create. However, I note with some cynicism The Times mentioning Proposition 13 as having “dramatically reduced school finances.” Proposition 13 was a voter mandate for fiscal responsibility on the part of the California government. We blame Proposition 13, when in fact the real blame should be focused on the Legislature, which has had many opportunities to align budget resources, including a golden opportunity during the windfall years of the late 1990s. Instead, the legislators blew this opportunity, and now we face an overwhelming crisis that endangers the future of quality education in our state.

John Davidson

San Juan Capistrano

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It’s disheartening that parents (and even some teachers) are being asked to donate $400 per child to keep class sizes lower. Instead of writing checks, they should be writing letters to the governor and state legislators to request proper funding for our schools. These legislators are responsible for the budget deficit, and they control school funding. That $400 may cover this year, but next year it may be $600, and what about the years after that? As long as parents bail out the schools, it takes the heat off Sacramento, and our children will never be provided with adequate funding for their education.

Angela Morgan

Dana Point