Reject Jore

Tacking onto Shane's post, let me reprint the letter that Jerry Reckin had published in the Daily Interlake yesterday:

Reject Jore

The conservative Republicans in the Montana House of Representatives have chosen to perform an all out assault on public education in our state.

The appointment of Constitution Party Rep Rick Jore to chair the House Education Committee will most certainly be a setback to education in Montana. I can only think of two motives for this conservative Republican appointment: 1)they are trying to court his vote on many other different issues, or 2) they agree with his ideology on education, which includes eliminating public schools. (He refers to them as government schools.)

He has been known to say that "I am ashamed to say that my oldest three went to government schools." Jore's five children are home schooled. He favors greatly decvreasing funding for "government schools" and abolishing property taxes , which fund all public schools K thru college.

In Montana, 93 percent of our students attend public schools. Perhaps he is of the opinion that an uneducated electorate is easier to influence and control. Nothing is perfect, and certainly our schools can improve and continue to advance our highly technical world. In Montana we must not drop further behind in our effort to educate all our children to the fullest extent of our ability. Our economy, our culture and our very way of life depend on it.

It is very unfortunate that the conservative Republicans have made the decision to be part of the problem rather than the solution. Let's continue to support our students with a positive attitude and provide them with a quality education by rejecting this appointment.

Well said Jerry, you are a handsome in print as you are in person!