U.S. Supreme Court ruling paves the way for Douglas County school vouchers.

Re: “Let’s go to the moon (and back) to close achievement gap,” June 14 Megan Schrader column.

Kudos to Denver Post columnist Megan Schrader for emphasizing the urgent need to close the achievement gap between low- and upper-income kids in Colorado and the nation. She rightly emphasizes the importance of highquality preschool, full-day kindergarten and summer programs for struggling readers. But there are other concerns that she could have mentioned:

President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget recommends eliminating before-, afterand summer-school programs. If Congress approves those cuts, they will primarily hurt lowincome and minority learners.

Public education can’t do it alone. Stable housing is a key component for strong educational outcomes. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s new office of Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere could partner with Denver Public Schools and the private sector to reduce student transiency and provide wraparound services.

Mental health and domestic violence need to be tackled. Decades of research show that toxic stress is especially and irremediably toxic for young children. Kids can’t learn when they’re highly stressed and it often leads to bad behavior.

If we began to address all these factors, in addition to the ones Schrader discusses, I’ll bet the achievement gap really will begin to narrow. Cyndi Kahn, Denver