SCHotline

Dear Editor,

I was highly disappointed when I read Cindi Ross Scoppe’s latest column criticizing school choice (June 22, The State). Instead of focusing on the needs of individual children, it seemed Mrs. Scoppe was more concerned with preserving “political and financial support” for our state’s education bureaucracy.

Our state’s public schools do not suffer from a lack of money or political support. Instead they suffer from a lack of real accountability, the kind that does not come from “No Child Left Behind” or our state-run government accountability system.

The accountability our public schools really need will only come when parents like me have a choice in our own children’s education.

Mrs. Scoppe knows that our public schools are not meeting the challenges before them. Otherwise she would not fear my being given the right as a parent to use a fraction of the money that the state spends on my children to find a school that better fits their individual needs.

We can continue to promote “accountability in name only” all we want, just as we can continue to pretend that more money and more programs will somehow make a difference this time around despite all evidence to the contrary.

At least Mrs. Scoppe is finally admitting the real motivation behind her refusal to support my right as a parent to choose what’s best for my children. I can only hope that one day she realizes how much her refusal is costing my children and thousands like them.

Sincerely,

Charleane Shealy