Letter to the editor: Fixing our broken education system

After perusal of the article “School board races serve as culture war battlegrounds” (May 14, TribLIVE), I got to thinking about our national education system.

In 1979, President Carter formed the Department of Education for political payback for teachers union support, and since then the unions have been firmly in the Democrats’ pocket. Now we have 44 years of data to determine whether that was a good idea. I would strongly say no. Prior to 1979, our system was looked to as the best system in the world. Since 1979, the data shows a consistent and continuous decline in performance and proficiency.

For a somewhat local example, I point to the city of Erie. For high school students, the proficiency in math is 12%; in reading it is 19%. The chronic truancy rate is 48%. And Erie is ranked 507th out of 676 schools in Pennsylvania; imagine 508 through 676.

Our educational system is simply not producing. We can place blame on government (which is probably smart), parenting, emphasis on noneducational issues or other societal factors, but to not acknowledge that it is broken would be naive.

Forty-four years is long enough to come to the rational and educated decision that the government education system is beyond broken. The Democrats and teachers unions have exhausted their clutch on the system; it’s time to release the system and truly help our kids succeed.

Richard Bell

Ligonier Township