There is no question that the state budget cuts are devastating our local schools. I work very closely with an elementary school in San Jose Unified School District as a parent volunteer and know this firsthand.

I also take the time to be kept informed by attending many district level meetings and I ask the tough questions. But the numbers don't lie.

I am horrified by the cuts in supplies and in the services already in effect. More cuts mean we will lose excellent and proven programs at our schools, namely the 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio in the primary grades.

California is already well below average in per student spending, and unlike many other states the funding for education in California is much more vulnerable to the fluctuations of the economy. Measure A is a local attempt to protect the children in San Jose from these fluctuations. We can choose to let the schools suffer during this crisis or we, as a community, can help offset a part of those cuts.

I sincerely hope that the San Jose community voted in favor of Measure A.

—Karen Potts, Willow Glen


Measure A a chance to help all our children

Every time a school district puts a parcel tax on the ballot, it never seems to fail that the uninformed think it isn't necessary, isn't timely, isn't worthy and that the school district is undeserving because it wastes money.

Teresa Hanson [Letters, May 28] takes the cake—not only does she say it isn't necessary, she has to criticize Willow Glen High School without even being a current parent there. Talk about misinformation! Her comments were nothing more than thinly veiled racism against Spanish-speaking students. She is out of touch with reality regarding the importance of meeting the educational needs of all children in our schools today. She is also wrong in her view of Willow Glen High School's performance.

API scores don't really tell the story of what is happening academically at any school. My kids are all Willow Glen students and they have thrived with the academics provided at our neighborhood school.

I'll bet that she doesn't view Measure A as necessary because her children, if she has any, probably aren't students anymore.

I'd like to remind our Willow Glen neighbors that indeed it takes a village to raise a child. Her simplistic answer that the key to success is having the involvement of parents and families is helpful in theory but not based in total reality.

I agree that it would be wonderful to have the full and complete support of every child's family. However, that alone doesn't put books and paper in classrooms, pay for librarians and computers, pay increased electrical costs, or pay salaries for teachers and staff. The general budget for education is in flux every year. And this year with the state's budget problems, it is more difficult than most.

That is why Measure A is on the ballot: to help ease the problems from the state budget for the next five years. It is a small price to pay to give needed support to our local schools.

Parents are well aware that the school budgets don't cover everything. And readers need to know that each school's parent and sports booster club pays thousands of dollars every year to supplement classroom needs, which include paying for lab specimens for science classes, buying for safe risers for choir kids to stand on, funding sheet music and musical instruments for a revitalized music program, as well as purchasing athletic team uniforms. We are lucky that our Willow Glen parents have the time and money to help augment the needs of our neighborhood schools.

I personally have donated more than $1,000 to various programs, plus have given countless hours to the middle and high schools this past year. I do this to support my children. I don't intend to stop supporting our schools once my children have graduated because the future of our valley rests with the next generation. They deserve to be educated with the best that we as a society can offer. That is what public school is all about: pulling together for the good of the public.

When your child is in school, it is there for them. When your child has grown up, it is your turn to make sure that the best is there for other people's children, whether English is their native tongue or not.

—Teri Ravel Kane, Thrasher Lane


Measure A parcel tax is a definite yes vote

With the San Jose Unified School District having put a parcel tax on a special election ballot, I think it would be useful to look at how other Bay Area school districts have improved their own local budgets by approving a parcel tax.

Here are a few of the schools that are considering a parcel tax or have already implemented one.

The Campbell Union School District is asking its voters to approve a $180 parcel tax for the next four years. The Hillsborough City School District has a $175 parcel tax, implemented in 1992, that is being assessed indefinitely. The Los Altos Union Elementary School District has had a $264 parcel tax since 1993, and the Los Gatos Union Elementary School District has had a parcel tax since 1998, which is $250 for four years.

Up the peninsula, the Menlo Park City School District voted in a $298 parcel tax in 1996 for four years, and since 1998 the Portola Valley Elementary School District has assessed itself a $195 parcel tax for 10 years. All of these districts have included exemptions for seniors.

—Andrea Wheeler, Kotenberg Avenue


Lighten up; consider more than the words

I just read the letter to the editor from the woman who couldn't bear the thought of her child reading the word vagina in the poster for the play The Vagina Monologues.

Wow, she even said that the posters made downtown Willow Glen unfriendly to kids. Can you imagine calling a vagina not kid-friendly? Geez, there's nothing more kid-friendly than a vagina. This lady needs therapy. Talk about repression.

One could make so many jokes about this letter. But the fact that the play is a benefit for a battered women's shelter and that a medically correct word is being used in a nondefamatory manner and the posters are still offensive to this woman is appalling.

I feel sorry for her children. They'll probably get dressed in the closet.

—John Jopnes, Willow Glen