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LATEST LETTERS

Public education

Wednesday, May 2 at 11:44 AM

Sally Augden of Denver writes:

Well, it looks as though former State Senator John Andrews and Congressman Tom Tancredo have almost achieved their 1999 pledge to dismantle the public school system (at least in Colorado). Thirty years of the conservative rant about how terrible public schools are (regardless of supportive data), as well as thirty years of under funding of Colorado’s schools have convinced folks like Jim Carr of Broomfield (RMN, 4/23/07) that the public school system is a massive failure. This in the face of the results of the results of a government study released last year (delayed as long as possible because the results did not fit with administrative rhetoric) that shows that public schools fare better than charter schools and only slightly better than private schools. Mr. Carr might be interested that 30 years ago, research (minus charter schools) also showed that private school students scored only slightly better than public school students.
Public education is the core of our democracy. Until our citizens start worrying about educating every child in America and are willing to pay the price for quality, we will lag behind the rest of the world in producing the best and the brightest. Mr.
Carr should be thankful to dedicated teachers and their unions for the fact that Colorado students, despite our dismal ranking for funding, score above average among U.S. students.

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