THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501070022
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Virginians should take special note of Governor Allen's proposed budget cuts in the area of at-risk education. No other proposed cuts highlight as clearly the lack of foresight and planning than to cut funding for children who are desperately in need of specialized training and educational services in order to become employable taxpaying citizens.
To cut funding in this area is false economy - short-term gain, long-term pain. I wonder if most people realize that at-risk students are typically from poor backgrounds, have one or several learning disorders that require special attention, usually do not have family-support structures that promote success in school, and often are afflicted with physical or mental disorders that require more-intensive educational services.
To deny these students the services they need to become productive citizens by arbitrarily cutting the budget is tantamount to pre-selecting the first group of inmates to occupy the governor's new prisons.
One fact remains undeniable. It is cheaper to educate than it is to incarcerate. It is also a wiser move politically, socially and morally to wield a kinder, gentler budget ax than to hit our society's most vulnerable.
JOHN H. McLAUGHLIN
Norfolk, Jan. 1, 1995
Editor's note: Mr. McLaughlin was 1990 Virginia Beach Teacher of the Year. by CNB