Stop draining public schools

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Nov. 29 edition contained yet another article concerning voucher schools seeking more money from our public schools to pay for their busing (“2 Catholic schools pressure MPS for bus money,” Nov. 29).

The law firm, Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, is suing Milwaukee Public Schools for $108,000 to pay for 70 voucher students' busing to and from St. Joan Antida High School.

Why is yet another voucher school tapping into our public school funds to pay for their students?

As a graduate of St. Joan Antida, I commuted into the city for three years. After being dropped off, I often walked a mile to reach the high school for classes. Yes, it was a long time ago; however, my father, who worked in a non-union shop, paid his taxes for the public schools in our community and paid out of his pocket for eight of us to attend Catholic schools for 12 years of our education. A religious education was extremely important for his children, yet he never received any help from taxpayers.

Voucher schools for years have received taxes to run their buildings, often not adhering to state standards, state testing and special education for their students. As a former MPS teacher, I know our funding was cut annually when voucher schools began to strip our finances. It is time to stop draining our public schools of their funds to pay for voucher schools.

Kristine M. Thelen Milwuakee