THE PUBLIC MIND: READER OPPOSES LETTER ON PROP B

Dear Editor:

E.J. Rotert's letter to the editor Oct. 25 giving reasons to oppose Proposition B voices a general attitude among most of us today. We are sick of paying taxes and sick of their unending increases. Each taxpayer now finds about 35 percent of his income gobbled up in this manner. I Acknowledge Rotert's disgruntled attitude, but from that point, his opinions are way off.

Rotert wants to cut sports that don't pay their way.

School is a time of awakening and opportunity for our children. Our children find out what they are by finding out what they can do. We need to make every sport, club, and organization available to them. Do we cut activities because they don't make money? Ridiculous!

Rotert states that teachers are greedy and "don't give a damn" about their students. Shouldn't teachers have the rights that other workers have? Are police officers, firefighters, and nurses greedy when they strike? How important are our educators in our communities? How much are we willing to pay to recruit and keep quality teachers in our classrooms?

Rotert says that schools and colleges should "cut the waste."

If there was any waste, Governor Ashcroft and Presidents Reagan and Bush have forced schools to cut it out. Maybe the Southeast Missourian can help its readers by comparing what we spent in our school districts today on each student to what the districts did 10 years ago. Taking into account inflation's erosion of the dollar, are our school's working with more or less dollars per pupil?

I would like to know before I vote and I bet Mr. Rotert would too.

David Klein

Cape Girardeau