Editor:

Re: the CS-T editorial Oct. 20, "Why demolish schools that are still usable?"

This issue is a microcosm of the problems that are facing our country at large. I believe that the old adage "that government is best, that governs least" is just as true today as it was when Henry David Thoreau first conceived it. In our (sic) wisdom the citizens of Wyoming have turned over total control of our educational system to the government. One of its agencies is the School Facility Commission, composed of good men, charged with making sure that every school district facility is the same color, size, shape, square footage, lighting, etc., ad nauseam. To accomplish this you have to do a little creative thinking like we did in Vietnam, i.e., "we had to destroy a village to save it," hence the question why destroy a perfectly good building we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in to improve education?

Assign whatever amount of money you want to elementary and secondary education. Cut the class room size to 10 students and require every teacher to be duly certified in special education as well as their major. By doing this you should be able to do away with about 90 percent of special education and the massive bureaucracy that has grown up in this area.

Take the above assigned money and give it to the local districts based on their enrollment.

After having returned this money to the citizens through the local school district, the state should then "get the hell" out of our life and let the local elected school board decide if we want/need a swimming pool or an English teacher or if we want to build a new school or remodel the old one.

Of course there will be many dumb decisions made by these local school boards. Let the local citizens take the appropriate actions to correct those dumb decisions. But anyone that thinks that Cheyenne or Washington will make better decisions need only read again the CS-T article or look at the current state of our national debt. As citizens this is our money, our students, our schools and our community. We not only have a right but a moral responsibility to deal with these issues at the local level for the future of our children. To turn this trust over to an appointed committee is negligence, and then complain about its decisions is contemptible.

RON WARPNESS, Riverton