By Clarice McKenney
In 28 years of living in Bonners Ferry I have witnessed first hand the ravages to our county’s schools created in large part by our state’s lack of funding for education.
Rural schools like Boundary County’s are most hurt by underfunding. This has gone on too long, and the fact that Idaho lies near the very bottom of per-student expenditures among all 50 states makes that truth even more obvious.
Idahoans expect our legislators to adequately fund our schools, and our state’s constitution backs up our expectations. Under our constitution, our public schools, including rural schools like ours, not private and religious schools, must be supported financially.
I’m hoping that Representative Mark Sauter will hold fast to the principal of public dollars supporting only our public schools, not private or religious schools.
I truly think that parents who want their children removed from under the tutelage of our wonderful public school teachers and separated from students in public schools are grossly mistaken. Our schools do a good job in spite of having to meet the needs of a wide variety of learners and a wider variety of home environments. Our schools also need active participation from students representing every rung on our societal and educational ladders.
Although I support those parents’ right to remove them from public education in order to focus them on their religious beliefs, I am totally against those families receiving any public financing to do so.
I’ve asked our legislator to vote against House Bill 93 and any other that would divert public funding from public schools to private and religious schools.