Jul 25, 2015 2 min read

Our obsolete system of providing financial support for local schools via property taxes should be eliminated. The current system ensures that children in poor districts cannot and will not have the educational opportunities that exist in wealthy communities.

Kentucky had similar problems prior to 1990. School districts in the Appalachian region of the state lacked the resources that were available throughout the rest of the state. In 1990, the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was apoproved and subsequently eliminated the financial disparities. Teachers’ salaries were standardized and only a few counties have unions representing teachers. Qualified teachers living in cities realized that the cost of living was much lower in Appalachia, thus there was a migration of qualified teachers eastward.

Something similar to the Kentucky Education Reform Act would eventually give young people in the Mon Valley the same opportunities that are afforded to wealthy communities. Decades ago, my wife and I enrolled our children in a school district that we later found to be deficient. During a strike by teachers, a union official announced that teachers would offer better instruction if paid more. I countered that if he were to make that statement in private industry, he would be fired on the spot. We relocated our children to a very superior school district.

Clarence Spicer

Canonsburg