We have no real choice, I believe, but to pass the referendum our school board is asking for. We should do so overwhelmingly.
Over 300 school districts across the state have operating levies. We have a systemic problem in terms of public school funding, particularly in rural areas, and I hope we will, as a state, move toward some solutions.
But, right now, it is falling on local communities across the state to increase their support of their schools. Our school board has done all it can responsibly do, in my opinion, and more. We must step up, for our next generation.
We are from Cook County, and now I will sound like the baseball coach that I am. Will we be satisfied with being average? Will we be satisfied if we do not do something that we can do that will help our school system?
Thequestion is this and we have to take responsibility for our vote. Is the purpose of public education to prepare as many of its students as possible to attain certain academic standards, or is the
purpose of public education to provide the very best education it can to every child? Educating every child as well as we possibly can is a complicated task. But, if this is our purpose, we cannot back away.
Challenges will face Cook County’s next generation that we can only imagine. It may well be that we are going to have to become increasingly self-reliant as a community in many different ways. Our young people will surely benefit from all that we can teach them now about leadership and inventiveness. We must equip every one of them as well as we can.
In the context of this question, the goal of “living within our means,” as categorical as it is, seems less like responsibility than settling for something less. We are tough, independent, and self-reliant people. And, we are proud of our community, fiercely so. What could possibly be more important to our future and each of us than answering this call?
Arleigh Jorgenson
Colvill
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