While watching the nightly news on Jan. 18 I learned that Anchorage School District is contemplating significant cuts to support staff positions. I kept watching hoping to hear ASD's business plan to accommodate funding reductions. I watched in vain.
What I heard was an emotional appeal to people who are already taxed to capacity from the School District projecting a sense of entitlement to continue to conduct business in the manner to which they have become accustomed in an economy anticipating continuing hardship.
The ASD is a business just as any other. There was a time in history when education included instruction on how to live within your means. If you do not have enough funding to support business in the manner to which you have become accustomed, you change the manner in which you do business. The fact of the matter is that businesses that over-extend themselves must either cut spending or collapse. ASD's current example teaches students that "wants" are more important than "needs" and thereby enabling a society of entitlement and government dependence.
— Nicole Noyles
Anchorage