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Guest forum: Help keep public schools afloat By Jana Carole Ashland In reading letters from Waldorf parents concerning the use (or not) of Briscoe School, I was saddened that - so soon after closing a very beloved school - we in this community found a new way to drive a wedge from within concerning Ashland schools. Our family moved to Ashland from a large city years ago. One reason we chose Ashland was that education is a fundamental aspect of life here. In Ashland, unlike the city we moved from, public schools remain within our reach and open to our input. Our children thrive here, and have (very individualistically) become members of a viable learning community by attending Ashland public schools. I am grateful for such schools. Others seek alternatives. I am pleased Waldorf and other alternatives exist and are open to those who can afford them. However, Americans pay taxes so that public schools will be accessible to all citizens. Schools rely on per capita allocations of that to function. The truth is, every first grade class that chooses a private course of education over public school amounts to an annual six figure decrease from some public school budget. In the city where my family once lived, my peers chose private schools. My colleagues and I made a similar wage, most had young children, yet my husband and I were the only ones who sent our kids to public school. (Call me crazy. I have a deep philosophical investment in public education. It is the key to our future. It is a founding principle of this nation.) I believe that if my colleagues had spent the same hours in a public school classroom that was required to make their children's tuition, their children would have benefited in addition to the community. Instead my colleagues worked like dogs to pay tuition, their kids rarely saw them, they rarely saw the inside of their kids' classrooms. That is education in our cities, where public schools nationwide are in economic crisis, and private school enrollments have waiting lists. In Ashland, there is enough affluence that most private school families have ample time to be deeply involved with their schools, which is wonderful educational model. However there remains - for all of us - an entire nation of children to educate, not just our own. Maintaining quality public education in this country - and in Ashland - is critical. Most families cannot afford private schools. I am relieved that Juli DiChiro was staunchly defending our public school resources, considering the meager funding our spineless legislators allow. I am concerned that the current political machine is happy that affluent parents are shifting children to private schools. The more privatization occurs, the more it relieves political pressure to adequately fund the quality public education that every American citizen has been promised. I applaud ASD's decision to award the Briscoe lease to Head Start. For the fact remains that private education diverts funding from public education. We have elected a school board and hired a superintendent to administrate our schools, which includes keeping them financially afloat. Ashland public schools were still there with open doors welcoming Waldorf children when that school went bankrupt a few years ago. That safety net is something private school parents will always have. The same does not work in reverse. We must not continue to undermine or underfund public schools. As a community and as a nation, let us all agree that to survive we must ensure funding for a quality education for ALL children, regardless of what we might choose individually for our own. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -