Invest in children

Finally, headlines declaring Spokane’s alarming 40 percent high school dropout rate. Community recognition of this crisis is prerequisite to a collaborative effort in fixing this monumental problem. We cannot go about business as usual when more than one in three of our young people are not graduating from high school. Statistics in The Spokesman-Review show dropouts are 63 percent more likely to be institutionalized and three times more likely to be unemployed. We cannot afford not to fund the Children’s Investment Fund.

Educating all of our youth is the best investment that we can make for the economic and social well-being of our community. I prefer that my tax dollars fund proactive projects that network and maximize community agencies to provide increased access to educational opportunities and medical, mental health and addiction treatment, rather than fund jail construction.

Increasing academic rigor and enforcing zero-tolerance discipline policies alone cannot ensure success for all. We must design and implement critical supports for at-risk populations. If we are to educate all students, we need to network with professional community agencies to meet the increasingly apparent physical, social and emotional needs of kids. These supports must be universally available and enduring.

Ann Kaluza

Spokane