Letter to the Editor:No ideology in upgrading schools

Appeared in the Boston Globe, Sunday 12/18/05

To the editor:

Perhaps Girard Fortin, author of the recent letter "Sending minorities the wrong message," could spare a day to tour public schools of Springfield, or Lawrence or Holyoke, where classes are crowded, roofs are leaking and heating systems are often unreliable. Direct observation might temper his assertions that the government has made "every effort" to aid education. Poking his head into outdated science labs or understaffed libraries might also leave him rethinking his assertion that "state of the art" resources are available to all children.

Dismissing the commitment to equal educational opportunity as "liberal nonsense" is a tragic misunderstanding of how essential public schools are to providing children of all backgrounds and abilities with the skills they need to achieve their potential.

Strengthening public education, along with other public services, should be a priority across the political spectrum. Giving children the chance to learn from talented teachers in schools that are warm, safe and well equipped should be both a "liberal" and a "conservative" priority. Money does not answer all the challenges facing our schools but without adequate funding no school can thrive.

Mr. Fortin has only to look at the devastation in New Orleans to see the consequences of government neglect, of both people and public works. This is lesson we can hope Massachusetts never has to learn first hand.

Sheila Decter
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action