Letter: Taxpayer: It’s my turn to opt out
This is a first-grade classroom at Branch Brook Elementary School in Smithtown at the end of the day Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011. Credit: Newsday / John Paraskevas
Every year I diligently go to town hall to pay my taxes, 53 percent of which are for my school district [“Ball in court of opt-out backers,” Editorial, Dec. 30].
Long, long ago the youngest of my children graduated, but as resident, it’s my obligation to support the community regardless of personal status.
Now, however, I resent it. Teachers are afraid to be measured, parents refuse to challenge their children, and passing grades are, simply put, a joke. A grade of 35 percent is sufficient to pass the algebra I Regents exam.
Now the ill-conceived opt-out movement has put federal and perhaps state funding at risk. I will now, undoubtedly, have to pay higher taxes for the furtherance of a parochial agenda that is only detrimental to good education.
So now it is my turn. So I invite opt-outers to pay my taxes, and then they can continue their ignorance-is-bliss on their own.
Richard M. Frauenglass, Huntington
