School Funding

To the Editor:

After following the arguments for allowing public funds to be used for private schools and an article mentioning Abbott’s signing of the bill to provide for attending private schools I have been in shock.

All this posturing for the use of public money designated for schools to be used for students to attend private schools is appalling.

What one can deduce from this bill is that the public schools in Texas are below par. Why else would someone wish for their child to attend a private school? The main discussion on funding students to go to private schools should have been to allocate those funds to raise the standards of public schools. If the intent is to raise the quality of the students it shows that the public schools are inadequate to raise the quality of students throughout Texas. It also shows that those in Austin that our students, in Texas, will not receive a quality education if they attend a public school.

All the discussions about monies for private schools should have been redirected to ask how and what is needed to raise the quality of the public schools? It truly looks like the answer was to throw in the towel and give up on public school education and have the student rely on private school education. Those in education will always point to the need for more money, but what is really needed is to instruct our students in basic topics, period.

Frank Chlumsky Muldoon