To the editor:

About 200 years ago, our founding fathers knew that democracy would not succeed without an educated populace. They created public education where everyone is entitled to go to school. The state of Kansas provides funding for schools at a little over $100 per week per student, about the same as day-care. In 27 years of teaching, I have seen no instance where the state has done anything to improve schools. There has been much criticism of schools to do more and better with less and less. The Legislature has come up with numerous ways to increase the burden on teachers and administrators including meaningless tests, but nothing to help.

Now the state government has decided that teachers are not entitled to tenure, a system that provides that experienced teachers cannot be fired without due cause.

The end result of state policies will surely be that fewer bright and ambitious people will enter the teaching profession. This will result in poorer schools and eventually the end of public education. Are these policies an attempt by right-wingers to do just that or just a result of poor policy? Does it matter? The result will be the same.