9/12 Letters: Wake public schools budget must grow along with the county

I’ve been a Wake County resident since 1991 and have had three children enrolled in Wake County public schools simultaneously for all those years. Over nearly three decades I have seen the successes and the failures of our school system. I fear we will experience more of the latter if we don’t finance our schools in accordance with their growth.

Over time, the school system has been starved of needed investments that once made it the best school system in the country – from abysmal teacher pay, removing teacher assistants from elementary classrooms, siphoning funds to charters and inadequate counseling services for students. I cringed last year to hear my son’s biology teacher begging for donations of supplies or cash in order to conduct lab experiments that are integral to the curriculum; same thing in chemistry this year.

No one would expect to feed their growing family on the same budget they had 20 years ago, yet that is exactly what we are doing in Wake. Wake County’s budget does not reflect the realities of the growth in the number of students and the resources needed to serve them. As long as there is rapid growth, the school budget needs to keep up. Period.

‘Love wins’

There has been a deafening silence from conservative evangelicals since President Trump announced his order to end DACA. They have been among his most fervent supporters. Trump gave the commencement address at Liberty University. Polls up until now show evangelicals are among his strongest supporters. So where are they now?

Since they are so fond of Leviticus maybe they are remembering this verse from Leviticus-19:33-34: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”

Or maybe even the verse from the Gospel of Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” Christ himself was a stranger in a foreign land in his early years – just like many of the DACA children – and just like them, he had no choice in the matter. The question for those evangelicals is, which do you love more – power or love? Because in the end, love wins.

Just ‘wondering’

Regarding “Harvey relief deal draws NC opposition” (Sep. 9): With seven “no” votes, North Carolina has the largest contingent of those in the U.S. House of Representatives who voted against the emergency measure to fund hurricane relief and raise the debt ceiling for the next three months. Is this something to be proud of? The voters are wondering.

This story was originally published September 11, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "9/12 Letters: Wake public schools budget must grow along with the county."