Use of taxpayer dollars for private schools rings death knell for our public schools | Opinion
Kill bill, not public schools
Thank you for your front page story concerning the theft of my tax dollars by this state’s legislature to pay parents to remove their children from our public schools.
This is ludicrous.
We are already paying for the schools.
Why not use that $30 million to help them do better?
And since “the majority of the approved private schools are religious,” whatever happened to the sacred American principle of separation of church and state?
I urge our state’s senators to kill this bill before it kills our public schools.
Elizabeth Russell, Columbia
Expand child tax credit
Despite the positive impacts of previous Child Tax Credit expansions, the lack of current expansion comes with repercussions.
There has been a history of successes as a result of the Child Tax Credit being expanded in the past.
The expansion in Congress in 2021 led to a 40 percent decrease in poverty.
However since the expiration of the expansion in 2021, there has been a dramatic increase in poverty among children.
According to Health Promotion Practice, immediate effects of deprivation, including lack of food, housing, transportation, etc., are not the only ways poverty impacts families.
It also causes chronic stress.
Health Promotion Practice explains that for those in poverty, conditions related to socio-economics, culture, and environment have damaging health effects including health risk behaviors, communicable illness, higher rates of chronic disease and premature mortality.
As a volunteer with RESULTS, an anti-poverty organization, I call for Senators Tim Scott and Lindsey Graham to support the expansion of the Child Tax Credit.
Candace Fant, Irmo
Support recess bill; reduce child stress
Parents of public school children should be allowed to sue the schools, legislature, senators and the governor for abuse.
If children live in hell at home and then live in hell at school, they lose hope.
Even if the child has the perfect home, school is so stressful that a third of students are on medication.
Some become suicidal or “shooters.”
We have the most stressful school schedules in the history of the world.
We also have the sickest children.
Insist that the legislators vote for the recess bill right away.
Patricia Milley, Conway
Avoid partisanship
Some law enforcement officers, often senior-level officers, appear in national news photographs with a current political candidate under indictment in multiple jurisdictions at the federal and state levels.
Thus, they imply their support for the candidate.
In their professional capacity, law enforcement officers must prioritize their duties over personal beliefs.
This includes refraining from endorsing someone under criminal indictment, regardless of the circumstances.
Such actions not only compromise the integrity of the justice system, but also undermine the public’s faith in law enforcement, a faith that is crucial for maintaining social order.
The bar might be too high to assert that the police, like active duty military, should abstain from showing partisan political preference. There is a long-standing tradition for such.
However uniformed officers, especially those in leadership, should avoid appearing with candidates seeking office while under criminal indictment.
Who the candidate is does not matter.
Mark W. Huguley, Columbia
