I’m going to make myself a pariah (again), because I think we need to cut school funding instead of increasing it. Education costs have risen faster that even medical care with no detectable improvements. When the school folks come up with a plan to show how they are going to change from the same tired, failing, expensive methods they are using, I will listen, but I’m not voting to provide more money until then.

Education doesn’t need multimillion dollar stadiums, doesn’t need hyper-expensive mansions on the hill. What it needs is accountability for teaching students to read, write, speak, to think critically, to be able to do more than text and put condoms on bananas.

Teachers are always whining about raises, how about this: Dump the unions and get $50 more per month, get rid of seniority and tenure; both of those are horribly expensive and come out of your check. Try being responsible for yourself, trust me, you’ll like it.

Why not run schools 12 months instead of 9, having three-fourths of the kids in school in any particular quarter, creating smaller class sizes, better facility utilization, and have teachers work year around like the real world.

How about yellow paging food services, building maintenance, grounds maintenance, administration, anything else that is not actual classroom teaching? Private businesses are notorious for efficiency that public operations can only dream of having.

Show me some creative thinking and out-of-the-box planning, I’m with you. Same old, same old, don’t call me, I’ll call you.

Rick Kiser

Oak Harbor