Deukmejian’s Education Budget

Just when we thought that the emphasis on quality education for our young people was a shared goal, along comes Deukmejian’s 1987 budget!

Not only has this budget “consolidated” the special needs of non-reading students in the same melting pot with the gifted and high-achieving, but it also has actually eliminated five essential categorical programs:

--Miller-Unruh Reading Program.

--Urban Impact Aid Program.

--Economic Impact Aid Program.

--Meade Aid Program.

--Native American Education Program.

It is the governor’s intention to reduce class size from 28 to 22 over a two-year period. And while no one can argue that the small class size will help improve learning dynamics, throwing special-need category students out into the mass is a terribly uninformed and disgraceful decision.

JIM STOCKWELL

Lomita