By PETER GOKEY
I have never written a letter to the newspaper before but, I have to voice my opinion on this one.
My opinion is on the school budget and yet another increase. First I would like to state that I pay $1,800 a year in school taxes. Second, I am forced to pay school tax and my child does not even attend public school. She attends Northern Chautauqua Catholic School, which I also pay for. (The taxpayer is not responsible, I am)
This is what I see. It takes approximately $15,000 to send a child through public school. The graduating class of Dunkirk is around 70 percent and now they want to raise my taxes although my child does not go to public school.
My daughter's school costs $3,500 and no child has failed in her class. In high school Catholic education, such as Mount Mercy, tuition is $8,000. Graduates of Catholic school cost less than half the price of public school with a graduating class of 99 percent and 98 percent goes on to college.
I am forced to pay higher taxes for a school system that has a graduating class of 70 percent that costs three times the price of a school system that has a graduating rate of 98 percent and my child does not even attend the failed school system, and there is a debate about throwing more money after bad?
I think our councilwoman would agree.
I suggest the Dunkirk school board get together with some of the Catholic school systems to help them figure out how to budget and educate a student body in a positive way. In closing, I voted no for the budget. Not only does the district need to make cuts, they need to make much deeper cuts!
Maybe students in Dunkirk really don't need to take a class on rock'n roll. That sounds like a cut to me.
It pains me that I have to pay private tuition for my child to get an education. But the city school system that costs three times the price, with a graduation rate at 70 percent and my child does not even attend! I promise this: when NRG slows down and Dunkirk wants to tax the homeowners in this town out of existence, myself and any other sober minded individual will be moving.
Peter Gokey is a Dunkirk resident.
