Douglas County School District Superintendent Liz Fagen, front right, answers questions during a press conference about the Colorado Supreme Court ruling the Douglas County School District’s controversial school voucher program unconstitutional in a split ruling on June 29 at the state Supreme Court. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Re: “Itap time for the Blaine Amendment to go,” July 2 guest commentary; and “Dougco’s school voucher ruse,” July 5 Jeremy Meyer column.
Neal McCluskey argues with perverse logic that Douglas County’s voucher plan would create “peace and unity.” He discounts Horace Mann’s mid-19th century egalitarian ideal of “instilling common values and culture to all children,” a democratic policy of embracing social diversity and thereby establishing national unity.
McCluskey and Dougco advocate an elitist approach of undermining the public school system, a foundation of our democracy, for the sake of an aristocratic minority that does not want to associate with the common majority. Rather than unify society, this strategy would fracture it.
Additionally, as Denver Post editorial writer Jeremy Meyer implies, school board members support private schools that in policy discriminate on a religious and social basis. Such officials are not worthy of their public trust.
If the conservatives of Dougco are dissatisfied with current public education, they should work with the rest of us to fix the problems.
John Murphy, Cañon City
This letter was published in the July 13 edition.
