To the editor:

Understandably, Scouting cost issues likely came about as a result of a local Pinewood Derby incident and the fact that “No Child Left Behind” act has not been properly funded as promised in President Bush’s election campaign. This underfunded program has had a terrible impact on states nationwide. Ask your local school administrator anywhere in the land and you will hear a symphony of woe. Conservatively, Lawrence has had two years of real cuts in funding as stated by our local superintendent, Randy Weseman.

If the district were to charge Girl Scout, Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops for meeting on school premises due to “the underfunding” and revenue shortfalls, the Boy Scouts will just not utilize these facilities. We have alternatives. The reason the Boy Scouts utilize these facilities lies in our understanding of the relationship Scouts and schools proffer.

Funding desperation drives all kinds of ideas and it’s unfortunate. At the elementary school level, like Prairie Park, Cub Scouts will commonly provide cleanup services to the grounds around the buildings and support other school functions. Effectively, fees would create a distance and possibly even interrupt the relationship between Scouts and the school. Scouts and schools are honestly knit from the same cloth with similar goals. To begin charging across the board will create zero dollars of funding revenue and be counterproductive to the relationships developed between schools and Scouts.

Charging the Scouting organizations is counterproductive to our mutual goal of providing a better-educated and well-nurtured child.

Grant Peterson,

Lawrence