To the editor:

This letter is in response to one that I read in the Oct. 14 issue of this paper.

The letter urges citizens to vote “no” on the tax increase for the Lindbergh School District.

The writer comments that his taxes increased 46 percent from 2004 to 2007.

I cannot comment on those figures, but I do know that our property values have decreased; thus we should be paying less tax. However, that is not why I am writing.

We need to support our school system. There are schools today outside of our district who are graduating students who cannot read, who cannot write sentences clearly and who have unbelievably deficient math skills.

Lindbergh has maintained high standards for the children of the district.

Those standards cannot be maintained if good teachers cannot be hired and kept year to year. Teachers are paid from the tax-levy moneys.

Even if you have no children in the schools, your support is necessary to see that our young people can compete in the global economy that we all must face now. Education is not about our own little world. Education is about all of us. We all benefit from good schools.

I have been a teacher for 40-plus years in both private and public high schools. Currently, I tutor students at the community college level. Believe me, I know what it is to work with students who cannot perform the tasks of reading, writing, and math.

I encourage you to find a way to support the tax increase for Lindbergh School District. We are more than fortunate to be a part of a good system.

Mary Hare

Concord