I've seen many letters chiding the administration for lack of funds for schools, but it needs to be pointed out we spend more than all but one state in the union on primary education, mostly for salaries and benefits, and our results are not the second-best in the nation and sure(ly) not the world. It's always about more money with the system. How much would it take to yield the best student graduation (rate) in the U.S.? We vote (for) millions to build monuments to excess and succumb to the chiding "It's for the children," but the results don't lie.
We're not the second-best. We don't even place, really, and that is tragic. Who are the victims? Somebody has to have the guts to redirect the system. Study the successes within other systems outside the U.S. What are we doing wrong and why do we spend so much doing it? I would support more money for that. Otherwise you embarrass me and yourselves.
— William Ahrens
Eagle River