Schools should operate like a business

To the editor:

In her April 5 guest column 'Education is not like private-sector business,” Mary Jo Hainstock says schools cannot drop any kids to control costs. This may be correct, but incomplete in context. Many programs in our schools are likely to be failures and should be dropped or replaced.

'We cannot market our schools to people outside the district,” says Hainstock. Perhaps this too is true, but everyone knows which schools are excellent and which are poor in a given community. Have you considered partnering with businesses in your district to help fund programs?

She writes that about 80 percent of education's costs are 'connected to paying people.” This is an identical issue faced by the majority of Iowa's businesses.

On the issue related to fuel cost, I wish I had a nickel for every empty seat in a school bus as it carries kids to or from school, belching pollutants as it goes. Maybe it's time to rethink the use of large, gas-guzzling buses in favor of alternative fuels, smaller/more efficient vehicles and/or letting parents discover their own solution.

The city of Cedar Rapids implemented a brand-new tax a few years ago (a 1 percent LOST), to help fund 'schools and pools,” as the pitch to voters went.

I would like to see an accounting of the LOST proceeds used by Cedar Rapids' schools before we think of raising additional taxes.

If only our educators and administrators would think more like business owners, we would be much better off!

James T. Heires

Cedar Rapids