Vouchers can fix the system

No issue on the Nov. 3 ballot is more important for Colorado's future than Amendment 7 to create vouchers for school choice. Reason: Public schools are in trouble. They are not performing. Colorado Governor Roy Romer and the National Governor's Association have been leaders nationally in documenting the extent to which public schools are failing our children and our society.

A recent "report card" issued by the National Educational Goals panel showed many disturbing signs:

• Only 14% of American eighth graders can solve math problems involving fractions, decimals, percentages and simple algebra;
  
• Only one-third of eighth graders can figure the cost of a meal from a menu;
  
• Only one-third of 11th graders can write a coherent paragraph about themselves.
  

Each year we send our kids back into public schools that are not working. Every other November, citizens are asked to approve tax increases at the state or local level, to give the education bureaucracy more control over our money. In most states, money available to the education bureaucracy has increased dramatically