As a daughter and granddaughter of teachers, who worked three years in an Oregon high school, ten years as an artist-in-the-schools mostly in northern Idaho, and twenty-three years in the Weiser school system as a middle school teacher of language arts, video and art, I can say I am fully aware of both the benefits and the problems of public schools. Education should be and is open to all who need it and we do need it! I saw many dedicated teachers and staff in every school that I worked in.
In the ten years I was in the Artist in the Schools program, I worked in over two hundred classrooms. Most rural districts do not have access to private schools, which do not have to meet the requirements the public schools do. They can choose the students they take, so physically and mentally challenged children may not be given a place in these schools. The bill HR 93 would compete with funding from our public schools, making it harder to do the job of educating all our children. People say it’s not fair to be taxed for public schools when your child isn’t going there, but many who don’t have children are taxed and don’t complain because they themselves received the benefits of our public schools.
And those of us whose children have grown STILL PAY TAXES TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS and we’re good with that because we want to see all Idaho children able to get a good education. Please say NO to #HR93!
Liz Mowrey
