Dear Editor,
With all the hand-wringing about the cost of maintaining a public school system that sufficiently educates Vermont’s next generation, I would like to know how much taxpayer money is being spent on the choices of parents who opt for a nonpublic school education for their children.
When my children’s mother and I opted for a nonpublic school education format for them, we did not try to reach into our neighbors’ wallets to help finance our choices. My wife and I were not rich, and our choices for our children had an economic component that impacted our working-class budget, but we never asked for a penny of money from other taxpayers.
And sometimes we happily joined in and contributed to our local public school system, in addition to paying our property taxes.
Furthermore, our children were never exposed to beliefs that some nonpublic schools inculcate into their curricula, namely beliefs that diminish the humanity and value of some of the very same taxpayers that help subsidize those same schools.
I hope that a credible investigation will reveal that direct and indirect aid to nonpublic schools and their students is a very small slice of the state education budget. It is important to this taxpayer that the results of such an investigation be made common knowledge among all taxpayers.
In choosing an alternative nonpublic education for their child, or children, some parents will say that they make that choice because they fear for their child’s emotional or physical safety at their public school. I have zero sympathy for public school officials who abide such situations. And the recent decision in one Vermont school district should be a warning to both school officials and taxpayers that ignoring bad situations won’t make them go away.
I’ve seen creative solutions to such bad situations and the Legislature would be well-advised to spend time and energy to help overworked public school officials minimize any situations where students feel unsafe. The net result could be a saving for taxpayers and a stronger public school system.
Respectfully,
Randolph J. Kniffin
Middletown Springs
