It takes a village: Florida needs school boards and the Department of Education | Opinion
A good education
Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States, signed legislation to create the Office of Education in 1868. Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president, expanded the Department of Education (DOE) in the 1960s. Many changes have been approved by Congress during DOE’s history, focusing on standards, grants, equality and funding.
President Donald Trump said the DOE is a waste and plans to shift the responsibility for education to the states. Florida lucks out in this change; we’re ranked number one by some polls. On the opposite end, Oklahoma is ranked 49th, with fewer students graduating than the national average.
With 50 governors deciding how much to fund education, how to pay teachers and what to teach in the classroom, one wonders how students in some states will succeed when their elected officials decide to cut taxes, such as Oklahoma has done, rather than spend more on education.
Despite Florida’s ranking, funding, special education for disabilities, grants, Head Start and school lunch are a few of the programs which could be impacted. School boards are critical to the mission, curriculum and policies of each school system; their dedication is to be commended. As the adage goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” We need school boards, and we need the DOE.
Bill McDonald,
Coconut Grove
Personal decisions
Re: the March 6 story, “CDC sends ‘disease detectives’ to Texas for measles outbreak.” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the new U.S. Health Secretary and critic of vaccines, said that he is not anti-vaccine, but simply pro-choice and wants parents to have enough information to make decisions about vaccinations on their own. He later said, “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”
I agree wholeheartedly there are personal decisions that all parents, including new parents, should make on their own. To be clear, the decision to have children is personal. The decision to not have children is personal. A woman’s reproductive decision is personal.
Barbara Sirkin,
Coral Gables
Change is OK
In a way, government bureaucracies are like the closets, garages and junk drawers of our homes. They have to be cleaned out every once in a while. At home, we procrastinate over these jobs, but when we finally do them, we take everything out before we put back useful, needed items in an organized way.
I pray that’s what’s going on in our federal and state governments. Of course, what’s being temporarily cleared are people’s livelihoods. I pray for all these employees that they may weather this time of turbulence and land in their old or other jobs as soon as possible.
Joanne Miles,
Hollywood
Family disruptions
President Donald Trump is reckless and indifferent to the needs of families that work for the federal government. Gov. Ron DeSantis is malicious and indifferent to the needs of our state employees’ families.
Both are head over heels about two ideas: eliminating employment diversity and a Department of Government Efficiency. Both are term limited by law, though one thinks the U.S. Constitution doesn’t apply to him and the other is insinuating he can gain a third term by (gasp!) making his wife his party’s candidate for governor in 2026.
Any working family that isn’t supporting itself with, nor dependent upon, a government paycheck should count itself lucky that Trump and DeSantis can’t wield a proverbial chainsaw that indiscriminately pulls their financial security out from under them.
If you voted to reelect these two, think about those unlucky families who suddenly won’t be able to make their car, rent or mortgage payments.
David Kahn,
Boca Raton
Cutting IRS
Like most people, I don’t like paying taxes, particularly when I disagree with how my money is being spent. However, I do accept that without tax revenue our infrastructure and services would suffer, along with our quality of life. I am willing to pay my share.
That being said, I am certain of two things. First, cutting the IRS budget and workforce will reduce their ability to collect that revenue. Second, it makes no sense to cut the only government department charged with bringing in money as opposed to spending it.
Perhaps President Trump’s advisor, Elon Musk, is not as brilliant as he is being made out to be.
David Halpern,
Miami
Federal buildings
Where did you go to school? Did we all cut civics class on the same day? Who owns the government buildings in Washington, D.C. that the great wizard of Trumpland wants to sell?
The answer is simple — the United States government, not one or two or even three individuals.
Do we have to wait for an answer from the Supreme Court?
If President Trump thinks he has the individual authority to sell those buildings, then let’s make it a package deal and throw in the White House. Then if we go to war with England, they won’t want to burn it again. And if the Supreme Court should rule in his favor — who can predict what they would do — while the deal is closing, he can live in a trailer park.
We can’t all be this stupid at once, can we?
Harry N. Turk,
Miami
Great realignment
President Trump is working furiously to align himself with Russia and other dictatorships while distancing himself from the world’s democracies. Worse, he mimics dictators daily.
David Feliu,
Coral Gables
Top business skill
You think I’d be happy. My whole adult life, I’ve said that government should be run more like a business, by a successful business person, as opposed to a politician.
Now, I must slightly change my thinking. Government should be run by a successful self-made business person. A self-made person knows the struggles and has empathy for those less fortunate.
Mark Peters,
Sebastian
Turncoat Trump
In less than two months, President Donald Trump has turned his back on Ukraine, sided with Russia and is trying to dismantle our democratic system of government.
I always thought the most famous traitor in American history was Benedict Arnold.
Not any more.
Glenn Huberman,
Miami
Edifying the Americas
The war in Ukraine and the ongoing political dispute is receiving a great deal of understandable media attention. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has re-designated Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism. President Biden terminated the designation during the waning days of his administration.
In a bold move, the Trump administration designated as terror organizations the vicious drug cartels which terrorize citizens in Mexico and the U.S. This action will help combat the violence and illegal fentanyl trafficking end the cartels’ stranglehold on Mexico.
The United States also is heavily sanctioning Nicaragua, which is ruled by the Ortega family thugs, as it holds thousands of political prisoners. Nicaragua is politically aligned with China.
After U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Panama, that nation terminated China’s Belt and Road Initiative which economically favors China.
All of these initiatives have the effect of strengthening the security of the United States, which also elevates the importance of the Western Hemisphere to our nation.
Tim Seale,
Miami
Speak American
I heard that President Trump made English our country’s official language. I object!
Where is his national pride? Why did he not declare that our official language is American?
Roy D. Wasson,
Coral Gables