"The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves." -- John Adams

"No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." -- Indiana Constitution Article 1, Section 6.

"...no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish enlarge, or affect their civil capacities." – Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The Wrong Cuts...

Published in Bloomington Herald Times02/19/2010

To the editor

The wrong cuts

The proposed budget cuts in education ("MCCSC: Teaching, librarian and coaching jobs cut, no summer school, Aurora to be moved," Feb. 12) are typical of what is going on nationwide, and are a tragedy that need not happen.

In order to save $4.5 million, MCCSC is eliminating crucial and important programs, while the state continues to spend education dollars on expenditures that harm students.

For example: The plans include eliminating librarians while research shows that the presence of credentialed school librarians is related to increased reading scores.

At the same time, Indiana has a high school exit exam that costs the state about $450 million per year, over $400 per student. Studies of high school exit exams show that they are useless: They do not lead to higher employment, higher earnings, or improved academic achievement. In fact, researchers have yet to discover any benefits of having a high school exit exam. We are spending money on measuring the problem, not solving it.

— Stephen Krashen
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