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Letters to the editor in regard to school board election 

letter to the editor

To the editor,

– I’m writing this letter in support of Kenney Enney. When I first moved to California from the East Coast back in the ’70s, California was known for its premier schools. Now it has dropped into the low 40s compared to the rest of the states (you can Google this). I have two children who graduated from Paso High School quite a few years ago and I must say if they were still in school today I would have them either in a charter school or a private school. It is simply unacceptable to have the low test scores in proficiency for math and English that the graduating classes have now!

While I’m sure Ms. Hollander is a nice person I believe her appointment to the board would just mean more of the same failed policies. We have a school system that is out of control… gangs, bullying (I know personally of a parent who pulled her two children out of Paso High because of this), and disrespect for the rules. Whatever you tolerate you are going to get more of and from what I see we are tolerating an awful lot and it needs to stop.

The voters have a decision to make, stick your head in the sand and say it’s really not that bad or vote for change. I’m voting for change and I think that Kenney Enney is that change we need.

Also for the person who started this whole recall election and made the disparaging remark “we don’t need no Marine,” having a son who is currently serving in the military I find her remarks offensive. She should be thankful to Kenney Enney and the other U.S. military men and women who fought for her right to say it.

Deborah Kelsch
Paso Robles

 


To the editor,

– I was at the candidate forum and Mr. Enney worked very hard to come across as powerful, capable, and in charge. And he said some things I agree with such as the need for all our elementary schools to be dual-language immersion schools so all our children have the opportunity to be fluent in both English and Spanish. Unfortunately, although he was quick to point out problems with our schools, his solutions when he had solutions, turned out to be nothing more than unworkable generalities.

Here are just two problems with Mr. Enney’s positions: Mr. Enney mentioned a number of times that one of the main problems with our schools was lack of discipline and lack of enforcement of discipline. His solution? Kick kids out of school.

This sounds good on the surface, but how would this work in practice? What happens when a kid is kicked out of school? And what about state law that says there must be an alternative placement for these students? Mr. Enney seems to feel that laws can be disregarded and that there is no need to comply with or enforce any law he disagrees with.

And while we do have an alternative high school, Liberty High School, for those students for whom Paso Robles High School is not the appropriate placement, Mr. Enney doesn’t seem to be suggesting problem students be placed there. Instead, his solution is just to kick them out of school. Do they then just wander the streets? Or is he suggesting reform school or that they be inducted into the army where they won’t have any options but to do as they are told? And what about middle school or elementary school students who cause problems? What does society do with them after they are kicked out of school?

Another point Mr. Enney brought up a number of times was the need for more vocational arts in schools. He apparently does not know about our Skills U.S.A. program. We do not just offer traditional wood shop and auto shop classes. Our students are offered training in dozens of fields including plumbing, aviation maintenance, computer programing, early childhood education, and practical nursing. This year our students were awarded forty-three medals in twenty-nine areas in the regional Skills U.S.A. competition. And every year Paso Robles students have won gold medals in Skills U.S.A. state and national finals.

A little knowledge of our schools would show Mr. Enney that our vocational arts program is one of the best in the nation. I taught at Paso Robles High School for twenty years and was a member of the board of the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District for eight years. It is not enough to identify problems. There must also be workable solutions that comply with state law. A school board member is not unilaterally “in charge” as Mr. Enney seems to feel but is just one of seven members of the board and he will only be effective in making changes if he is able to gain the support of the majority of the other members of the board. When asked how he would be able to work with other school board members to accomplish his goals, Mr. Enney had no meaningful response.

Are there problems in our schools? Absolutely and we need to work together to find solutions to these problems. But bluster, anger, unworkable generalities, and disregard of the laws of our state will solve none of them.’’

Robert Simola
Paso Robles

 


To the editor,

I do not know either candidate. I do not have any school-age children (though we raised four who attended public schools, and have college degrees, and great jobs). I assume many of you may be like me and think you don’t need to vote in the upcoming school board election because you don’t really have a dog in this fight. I encourage you to think again.

School choice and vouchers have become big issues, not only in Paso Robles but throughout the nation. The terms are used interchangeably but they’re not the same thing. School choice may sound simple but it’s not. It’s a new spin on an old record that roots from voucher programs that date back to the 1950s. They have morphed and taken on many forms in the past 75+ years. So what’s all the fuss about now?

I encourage you to investigate the topic because the future of public education, our youth, and our country depends upon it. These three things are all inextricably linked. This connection is why the upcoming school board election is vital to all of us. It’s also why it’s essential we elect a candidate who wants to keep our public schools viable and will be committed to make sure the PRJSD thrives so it can continue to serve the needs of its students and parents, our community and our country.

Free, public education is one of the bedrocks of our country. It was developed to “create a literate and productive citizenry with a common system of morals” and has evolved to also include developing an informed and productive workforce through a system that allows for social mobility. It was created for all students K-12 and one of its tenants is to provide equal access to education for all children. A robust public education system is essential to give our students the ability to compete and succeed in society, and thus help ensure the success of our country.

Public schools serve 90% of all K-12 students in the United States. They provide a free education and supportive services such as transportation and socialization on campus through extra-curricular activities such as athletics, music and art programs, and so much more. Since its formation, billions of people have benefited from public education and continue to do so.

In short, school choice works like this: students can take their share of public school education dollars and use them in whatever school-type system they want. And they are many: private schools, charter schools, homeschools, technical schools, online schools, loosely-formed pod groups and more. Or parents can choose to “set aside” funds in an “ESA” (educational savings account) that they can spend on educational expenses including things like transportation and therapy, or save for college or vocational training. Proponents also want to use them to pay for religious schools.

There are ways to fund these choices via vouchers, grants, ESAs (educational savings accounts) and tax credits. According to EdWeek.org, the original intent of ESAs (like most voucher programs) was to help low-income students and students with disabilities. But now that education has turned into a for profit business, hundreds of school choice businesses have sprung up. They are pushing states to expand the eligibility criteria and encouraging parents to figure out ways to spend their share.

Supporters propose that free-market competition will force public schools to improve but research shows that competition between private and public school systems often leave both struggling for already scarce resources. It is especially true is small, rural communities like Paso Robles where we already don’t have enough teachers, staff and resources to accommodate the schools we already have.

The two top reasons advocates for school choice cite are 1) it gives parents control over curriculum and 2) makes the schools accountable to parents rather than the government. If you’ve ever attended PTA meeting, you’ll likely agree that it’s difficult to get a roomful of parents to agree on one issue – much less how to run an entire school.

School choicers proclaim that private and charter schools will be more beholden to parents because if they don’t do their bidding, parents will take their education dollars elsewhere. But this means either building more schools or where would they go? Many charter schools are already impacted so they have lotteries to determine who is admitted.

So yes, charter schools may not have to abide by state regulations even though they are funded by our tax dollars, but they are co-funded by private donors because allotted student funds don’t cover all of the tuition. According to Vox, they generally have benefactors that sit on boards who control their direction. (It’s the “he who pays the piper” thing…)

The lack of regulation that allows private schools to develop their own curriculum is what some politically-motivated groups want. According to the link to the conservative organization California Policy Center shared by Debbie Arnold in her endorsement of Kenney Enney, the 2022 California ballot initiative sought to “eliminate some of the current state curriculum mandates…” including sex education, history and social studies curricula they want to ban.

School choice proponents also claim charter schools can educate children cheaper than public schools but this is not true. One of the major problems with school choice is that the tuition credit a student receives generally doesn’t cover the cost of a private school. The California Education Savings Account Initiative, which failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot, was aiming to give students’ “parents” $14,000 per student to be used on private or religious schools. They now want $15,000.

According to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, in 2021-22, the funding per student for public schools in California was $13,465. Tuitions vary at private schools but average $20,000/year for high schools. They also noted that private schools generally offer a discount of some sort, charge enrollment fees and ask students to pay for books and supplies. Families have to make up this difference meaning many families will be not able to afford private schools, thus widening the class and socio-economic divide. Or private schools have to supplement their tuition cost with donations and private funds. Either way, it adds to the per student cost.

The most important considerations about school choice should be its impact on students’ and on public schools. According to the non-partisan Brookings Institute, research shows there is not significant improvement in the performance of students who are enrolled in alternative schooling over their peers in public schools and history shows that vouchers and private school funding hurt public schools.

According to a report by US News, regardless of how well-intentioned school choice programs may have, they have a negative fiscal impact on public schools, and other unintended consequences such as class and economic segregation and a drain on already over-burdened systems.

The intent of our nation’s first voucher program developed in the 1950’s so that white families could take their share of public school funding and use it on private schools that black people couldn’t afford or qualify for admission. Gradually, these state’s legislatures reduced funding to public schools and in some cases closed them altogether.

I have experienced firsthand the damage voucher programs can do and witnessed what long-term effects that damage can have on public schools. My family lived in Mississippi from 1995-2000. We had two school-aged children we wanted to send to public schools. We found the entire school system (K-12) almost completely segregated with most white children attending private schools and the public schools almost exclusively black. Even families (black or white) who wanted to use the public school system were reluctant to do so because the public school system was in shambles – both physically and academically.

Not only had most public funds been taken away from the public schools via the state’s “tuition grant program,” taxpayers would not enact legislation to improve the public schools since most middle- and upper-class families weren’t using them. I am not casting aspersions on home or private school systems. If that’s what you want and you can afford it, that’s your choice. It’s just not what we or our children wanted and private school is expensive.

I don’t think it’s the goal of school choice proponents to close down public schools but the destruction of Mississippi’s public school system still exists today because of the voucher programs of the 1950’s. The state still has one of the worst public education performance scores in the nation and one of the highest private school enrollment numbers. Current data shows that just like in the 1950’s, taxpayers are reluctant to support bond measure and funding initiatives for public schools in areas with school choice or voucher systems.

School choice is not an education eutopia. According to Edsource.org, charter schools have truancy issues high teacher attrition. Their enrollment has declined for first in 30 years, reducing their public funding making them less attractive investments for banks and private donors. They are suffering from teacher and staff shortages and further thinning the availability of these resources thus driving the costs of education higher. Since they aren’t regulated by any type of oversight, there are documented cases of malfeasance, self-dealing and profiteering, and misuse of funds by administrators.

In some cases, they also violate the U.S. constitution. School pro-choicers want to use their vouchers at religious and sectarian schools. The former is a violation of the separation of church and state clause of the First Amendment and the latter sometimes (depends on admission requirements) violates the 14th Amendment because of their prejudicial entrance policies.

Kenney Enney strongly advocates school choice. I agree with him that if a parent wants to send their child to private school or homeschool them, they can choose to do so, but it should be at their own expense. If a few peoples’ choice to develop other school systems negatively impact our state’s ability to provide all students with the free education guaranteed by our constitution then school choice is a bad choice.

Therefore, I cannot support a candidate for a public school board who’s goal is to establish a school choice system that undermines a public school district when it’s the mission of the board to keep it operating at its best. That’s why I’m voting for Angela Hollander.

Becky Zelinski
Paso Robles

References:

Brookings Institute – More findings about school vouchers and test scores, and they are still negative: https://www.brookings.edu/research/more-findings-about-school-vouchers-and-test-scores-and-they-are-still-negative/

EdSource – A new chapter for charter schools in California as enrollment drops for first time in three decades: https://edsource.org/2022/a-new-chapter-for-charter-schools-in-california-as-enrollment-drops-for-first-time-in-3-decades/670868

Education Week – What are school vouchers and how do they work: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/what-are-school-vouchers-and-how-do-they-work/2017/01

Encyclopedia Britannica – Charter school defined: https://www.britannica.com/topic/charter-school

Legislative Analyst’s Office – Sept. 27, 2021. Review of constitutional and statutory initiative related to funding for students attending private schools: https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2021-006

US News – What parents need to know about school vouchers: https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/articles/what-parents-need-to-know-about-school-vouchers

Vox – Everything you need to know about charter schools: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/30/18076968/charter-schools

 


Editor’s note: Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are the personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.

 

 

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