Letters on tax dollars to private schools, Earth Day, Islamic speaker
Don’t want tax dollars going to private schools
House Bill 2741 would allow the state to give tax money to people to use for private school tuition. This bill would take money away from public schools and promise everyone the opportunity to send their children to private schools.
Sen. Steve Abrams, R-Arkansas City, said this bill will allow low-income and moderate-income families to send their kids to private schools. Before you conclude this is a wonderful idea, answer the following questions:
▪ Will your choice of private school have to accept your children for enrollment?
▪ Will your choice of private school (if it accepts your children) be permitted to expel your children or to refuse to enroll them for the next school year without due process?
▪ Will 70 percent of the per-pupil state aid cover the tuition at the private school of your choice, provided that it accepts your children for enrollment?
Rep. Ron Highland, R-Wamego, said: “It’s not public money, it’s taxpayer money.” He’s absolutely correct, and I am a taxpayer. I currently do not have any children in school; however, I have no problem paying taxes to support public education. But I want my taxes to go to public schools, not private schools.
Robert Johnson, Towanda
The first Earth Day
It was April 22, 1970. I was three years out of college and a construction engineer on a project at the University of Iowa campus. Each morning I’d pick up the university’s newspaper. This day’s edition had but a single image: the green-striped image of the first Earth Day flag.
Probably still having the idealistic outlook of a college student, I posted the paper’s flag on my office wall, sympathetic to the cause. Looking out my window, I saw that a student march in praise of the Earth Day cause had formed, with participants carrying signs and banners. A fellow, 30 years my senior, viewed the cause and the long-haired students with concern as to what was to come of this.
Looking back, I see that Earth Day presented the opportunity to change the norm of the destruction of our environment and its truth before us every day in the form of global warming. And the burden we are responsible for placing on our grandchildren.
Wally Jensen, Wichita
Invite new speaker
The Eagle has recently used an unusual amount of ink regarding the sudden cancellation of an Islamic Society of Wichita fundraising dinner. The society had invited contention by needlessly inviting a guest speaker with a long history of ties to Hamas, a terrorist organization.
Surely the society should have no problem to reschedule its dinner with a more judicious guest speaker.
David Gudeman, Wichita
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This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on tax dollars to private schools, Earth Day, Islamic speaker."