To the editor:

Some interesting facts have come to light about how well our Kansas high schools are preparing our students. It seems that many of the high school graduates in Kansas do not have the skills to function at the college level. According to the Kansas Board of Regents, incoming freshmen at our state colleges and universities are substantially lacking in reading, writing and math.

Twenty-four percent of these freshman need remedial (high school) reading, 33 percent need remedial writing and 57 percent need remedial math. Of all the students enrolled in remedial courses, 60 percent are recent high school graduates. Two-thirds to three-fourths of these students will never earn a college degree.

So, if more than 50 percent of every dollar we give the state goes to education, what are we paying for? The courts say we need to spend more of our state income on education. That may be true, but it appears that we are getting a substandard product for our current investment, a very substandard product. And one wonders why taxpayers are reluctant to champion higher taxes for education.

Taxpayers in Lawrence should be let in on how well our school district is doing against these statistics and what the Lawrence school district is doing to make sure that our high school graduates, planning on attending college or not, are not part of this disturbing equation.

Ken Meyer,

Lawrence