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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 29, 1992                   TAG: 9203020214
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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SPEND ON YOUTH OR ON PRISONERS?

WHEN WAS the last time Herbert Martin (letter, Feb. 15) visited his local elementary, middle or high school? He would have found overcrowded classrooms filled with students from broken homes and abusive situations. They come to school with problems that would boggle his mind.

This was not the case 40 years ago. He would also find textbooks that are falling apart and are outdated; we have no money to buy new ones.

I am not a greedy crybaby. If I were, I would not have paid for my own paper to run off tests and worksheets for my students the past two years. My school system had no paper for me to use.

It is estimated that it costs taxpayers $4,390 per year to keep a child in school, $17,000 per year to keep an inmate in jail. Would we really rather spend tax dollars on prison inmates?

The real losers in this funding crisis are the children. They are the ones getting the message that they are not important. NANCY F. CHEWNING ROANOKE

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