Education funding should be a priority

To the editor:

Several excellent opinion pieces regarding priority problems in general and the condition and future of Iowa's education system in particular have been written and recently published in Iowa newspapers. It is perfectly clear that the future of education comes down to one issue - resources.

Let's put this in perspective. This is the state that can give hundreds of millions of dollars to one of the wealthiest families in Egypt to build a plant providing 165 full-time jobs and the list of giveaways goes on. This is the state that can give hundreds of millions of dollars in commercial tax breaks, much of which goes to out-of-state owners. But the governor and House Republicans can't give the necessary resources to provide world class education. What is wrong with this picture?

The jury still is out on how many new jobs these giveaways and tax breaks will produce. But the jury has started back in on the question of how many important jobs will be lost in the education industry. Projected to be many more than 165. Here is the ironic part: education is the one industry, bar none, that will determine the future of our state. Time to do some serious rethinking about priorities.

Tom Martin

Iowa City