A Letter to Governor Charlie Crist

Dear Governor Crist: I am writing this letter upon the request of my school administration. Although I would often like to argue for the gradual privatization of the school system, I understand the hopelessness of that argument, and I am forced to concede the importance and usefulness of government funded public education.

To console myself then, I must feel assured that education is provided to the public youth not at the compromise of quality. The question then arises, as with all government programs, how to properly allocate funds, especially in a budget crisis much like the one we face today. Today at Stoneman Douglas High School, my fellow students and I benefit from small class sizes and the option to enroll in a multitude of upper level and Advanced Placement courses. These two facets of our education are the sole redeeming factors of the public system, and if either of the two were compromised, the concept of public education itself would be all but worthless to those living in a community with any level of affluence. It is then the responsibility of the government which has taken upon itself the task of providing tax funded education, to meet the appropriate budgetary needs without compromising the effectiveness or worth of the education its citizens will receive. If in order to provide free education, the education must itself be flawed, then it is the government’s flaws in function and principle which are exposed and made ridiculous before the people.

It is then the responsibility of you and your administration to take up the task of revising the budget without compromising the quality of education you have taken it upon yourself to provide and preserve. It is now your publicly charged duty to prove the worth of a government funded school system and not bring it to irrelevance by eliminating the very properties which justify its existence; those being its upper level education opportunities, and small class sizes. Sincerely, John