Re: School

Ms. Ramona Murphy in her Letter to the Editor is supporting a petition to place the California School Choice Initiative (Educational Freedom Act) on the ballot. Like Ms. Murphy I would encourage you to visit the web site and review the petition prior to signing. My understanding is that the Act will create and fund a parallel education system that would embody the beliefs of the conservative right and insure they flourish. One has only to look at the proponents for this legislation. They are quite specific that the curriculum will not be tampered with. This kind of open ended prerogative raises the hair on the back of my neck. Exactly who will determine the curriculum, the parents or a representative community board outside the private school?

Ms. Murphy says that “Parents know what is best for their children...” and therefore should be allowed to choose the school they attend and the state should fund their choice. I would say as parents, we may have a clue as to what makes for a “good” education but are far from being experts. We don’t even get any training at being a parent, much less about how to educate. We elect representatives to the school board and give them a mandate to do what is in the best interest of the children. Ms. Murphy instead of working through the board, because they are not responsive to her particular way of looking at things, wants to setup a way to circumvent it.

She says that competition between public and private will enhance education. In my estimation we do a poor enough job managing the existing system without adding another. Teachers unions are way to powerful. Curriculum is way to convoluted. My granddaughter must have 4 different ways to divide one number by another. Simplify, stick to the basics. (Reading, writing, math, some history, civics and science.) Stay away from anything else that is controversial. They will learn about it soon enough and come to their own understanding.

I do not comprehend Ms. Murphy’s references to people with money influencing pubic schools? If anything they would influence private schools, right? Could be wrong, but I believe private schools already receive tax dollars based on their number of students? We have laws and procedures that insure equitable distribution of educations tax dollars.

David Hudspeth,

Yuba City