March 25, 2005

LETTERS2theEDITOR

Public school students stuck with free rotten lunch

Editor,
Reading your article concerning the budget crisis in the ESUHSD, I found myself disgusted by people’s lack of understanding of a simple lesson—there is no such thing as a free lunch.

When you compare the quality of public and private high schools, private high schools dramatically outstrip the public ones. Compare this: Notre Dame High School has a ration of one counselor per 50 students. Right now, Evergreen Valley High has two counselors for over 2000 students.

Sadly, there is no true solution to solve this problem for the district. You cannot cut “farthest from the classroom.” No matter what they do, there will be an impact on the quality of the teaching.

Adding extra students to a class will lower the coveted one-on-one time. Laying off counselors or assistant principles won’t help (aren’t they the ones who control student behavior?). One of my teachers told my class that at a budget meeting, the best idea they had was to “go to one of the Yahoo founders and ask for a million dollars.”

The biggest victims here are the students. How will they be able to get into a top university when they are unable to take extracurricular classes or summer courses? Not to mention the teacher’s plights. They are the ones with already low-paying jobs, jobs that essentially guide the next generation’s minds. Can’t they hope for a little more job security and salary stability? 

The only true solution for parents is simple: send their child to another school. Two of my friends at EVHS are considering it. Unfortunately, for those without the financial resources to achieve this, they are stuck with the free rotten lunch.

Alan Zhao
Concerned EVHS Freshman

Reader concerned about taxpayer dollars going to religious school

Dear Editor,
Quotes from Evergreen Times dated Feb. 12—Feb. 25

State of the City, (p.1) “Mayor Ron Gonzales at his State of the City address ....Faced with declining revenues and budget deficits, 2005 will mean painful budget choices about how to meet the needs of the community”. (p.4) “His biggest dream, however, is to bring a major league baseball team to San Jose”.

Most Holy Trinity School (p.20-21) In an article about a Catholic school’s 40th anniversary, we learn about “its new $6 million facility, filled with a state-of-the-art computer classroom, a science lab, an expanded library”..... Then under the picture of the library, we read “The City of San Jose has given the school a grant for a Homework Center to help children with homework, research and study schools after school”.

When I read that particular issue of your newspaper, I had a hard time understanding how it was that the city was allowed to give taxpayer money to a religious school. With two kids going to high school in the ESUHSD, it has been clear to me what they did not have for a couple of years.

Now I read in your latest issue about the ESUHSD deficit. Most of us have known about the corruption, the mismanagement of funds, the parcel tax issue, but does it occur to anyone else that there is something wrong with the City of San Jose giving a grant to a private, religious school when the public schools are so broke?

Joy DeVito
The Estates

Editor’s note: The Times checked with the city of San Jose about the criteria for funding, and here’s the response received from the San Jose After-School office in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, (408) 794-1660.

“The city of San Jose provides funding for homework assistance to the youth of San Jose through grant agreements.

These agreements provide one fiscal year of funding and are developed with the following types of agencies:
- Public school districts within San Jose;
- Public school districts with sites serving a student population of at least 50 percent San Jose residents;
- Community-based organizations serving San Jose youth, including private schools with a 501(c)3 tax exempt status; and
- Other public agencies such as libraries and teen centers.

For FY 2004-05, sites funded in ESUHSD include James Lick, Evergreen Valley, Andrew Hill, Piedmont Hills, Mt. Pleasant, Independence, Oak Grove, Overfelt, Silver Creek, Yerba Buena and Santa Teresa High Schools.”

Resident urges community to support Health Insurance Reliability Act

Editor, 
The March 12 Evergreen Times headline article, “Crisis in our school districts” reported on the financial distress of the East Side Union High School District and the Evergreen School District.

The article indicated that representatives of both districts stated that rising medical insurance costs are a large contributor to their projected budget deficits. We can do something about that.

We waste half of our heath care dollars on reduplicative (sic) and unnecessary administrative costs, insurance company profits and shareholder dividends. This needs to be changed.

The Kuehl bill, SB 840, is slated for review by the California State Senate Insurance Committee chaired by Senator Jackie Speier on April 6.

This Health Insurance Reliability Act will cover every Californian with comprehensive health insurance and give them the ability to choose their own physician. This model is estimated to save $8 billion in the first year alone in statewide healthcare spending. And it will save money for families, businesses, individuals, local governments and our school districts.

You can support it by writing to Senator Jackie Speier, State Capital Room 2032, Sacramento, CA, 95814, and your own State Senator and Assemblymember www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html.

Carter V. Multz
The Villages

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