I am a proud graduate of a public school education: Glenwood High School in Canton; Kent State University (bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education).
These institutions encouraged critical thinking, reasoning, creativeness and problem solving while giving me the tools of knowledge and information. I took these skills into a career as a public school educator, retiring after 32 years of service in K-12 schools and an additional 12 years at the college level.
And now our state representatives are choosing to dismantle this system of public schools created in the Ohio constitution by decreasing funding, using 2022 data to determine the cost to educate K-12 students and restricting school cash balances — not following the Fair Funding Plan.
Their budget wants buildings with a less than 60% capacity to be sold to outside entities with no regard for its usage — many housing technical programs and special needs classes that require larger spaces. And were paid for by our tax dollars.
Why? What possible benefit would our children have by reducing staff, programs and services if these cuts are passed? The only benefits will be to charter schools that are not held accountable for spending, curriculum or outcomes. What happens to bus service, to lunch programs, to extracurricular programs including sports and arts, to advanced placement and International Baccalaureate opportunities?
Public schools were created to educate all children regardless of aptitude, ability — both physical and cognitive, or economic standing. It’s time to commit to public schools with Fair Funding to give Ohio students the high-quality education they deserve in order to prepare them for success.
Joann Smith, Canton
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Commit to Ohio schools with Fair Funding Plan | Letter