REFORM: 'Thinly masked fraud'

I have a couple of questions for the authors of the educational "reform" bills.

1) Who do you think you're fooling?

2) Do you think you're the first grafters to come down the pike?

You guys planned this like a bank robbery. Success depends on timing and moving quickly before the stunned public has a chance to react. You had to be sure to pack enough political ammunition to pull it off. For the first salvo, you lobbed a few incendiary bombs in the general direction of the teacher's lounge. The words you chose fell just short of calling them a bunch of commies. But, you had to be prepared to throw people against the wall. This kind of heist is no place for the faint-hearted. The same teachers you praised last year for their sacrifices in the face of budget cuts, you are now vilifying. All this defaming of teachers, as unfair and damaging as it is, is merely a prelude, a tactic to divert attention, while you ransack our schools. What you are calling "reform" sure looks like an old-fashioned shakedown.

This deal is so crooked; it's hard to think straight. OK, the taxpayers are supposed to buy every kid in the public school system in the state a laptop computer. For a state experiencing a budgetary shortfall, that isn't exactly chump change. I'd like to think I have better morals than the average politician, but I'd be happy to open an account in the Cayman Islands if they'd give me a chance to broker that deal. I'm sure the computer company would be generous in expressing their gratitude. After all, I sent this multi-million dollar contract their way. Just wire it electronically to my offshore account, and my family will never have to worry about money again. No seriously, this plan is so filled with conflict of interest, secrecy, and opportunism, it's beyond belief. If the public can't see that this so-called reform is an open door to malfeasance, they have no imagination in the art of larceny.

In a laudable effort in this time of high unemployment, the Republicans are doing their best to create jobs for laptops. Is that laptop going to pay taxes? Sing in the church choir? Volunteer to coach kids' softball? No? Oh well, that's all right. By implementing them, we can take someone who has devoted 20 years to their profession, and kick them to the curb before they can collect a pension. They can help us turn our English teacher into a bag lady.

If the taxpayers want to save money, they should replace these legislators with computers. With the advances in Artificial Intelligence, it's a certainty a computer would come up with a better plan than this thinly masked fraud. No plan it might devise could be less human.

RUSS FAHLGREN

Worley