Letters for Oct. 12, 2023

Kudos to Spokane Public Schools

On Nov. 2, the Spokane County Human Rights Task Force, in conjunction with the Spokane Human Rights Commission and the Gonzaga University Center for Hate Studies, will be honoring five individuals who are doing outstanding work to advance human rights in our region.

Last year Spokane Public Schools (SPS) opened two of its three new middle schools and named them for individuals who also did outstanding work to advance human rights in our region: Denny Yasuhara and Pauline Flett.

On Oct. 21, Spokane Public Schools will be dedicating the third new middle school, which they named after another human rights advocate, Carla Olman Peperzak. Carla, who is Jewish, was a teen when the Nazis invaded her homeland of Holland in 1940. She joined the Dutch resistance and helped to forge identification papers that saved untold numbers of Jewish people from certain deportation and death. Now in her senior years (she will be turning 100 next month), she shares her wartime experiences with students and others around the Inland Northwest, believing that education will prevent something like the Holocaust from ever happening again.

These actions, in addition to the renaming of an elementary school two years ago for the first female African American lawyer in Spokane, Frances Scott, warrant a major shout out to Spokane Public Schools for choosing to name its schools after human rights champions who have made an impact on our community.

Hershel Zellman

Secretary, Spokane County Human Rights Task Force

Spokane

Open primaries will strengthen political parties

Here’s a hot take: The open primary initiative in Idaho will actually strengthen and heal our political parties, not destroy them (regardless of what Scott Herndon and Dorothy Moon may say). Think about it for a minute. We’ve seen a shift in the past couple of decades towards more crystalized, more extreme positions in our party system. It’s been driven by many factors: media incentivized to cover controversy, a surge of unaccountable money enabled by Citizens United, and politicians that need to distinguish themselves in increasingly ideological primaries.

The thing is, parties really can be an important way for voters to come together and express their collective views and aspirations. Parties can be a force for good, even if they’re not currently living up to their potential.

A top-four primary system won’t diminish parties and their importance in our lives, it’ll remove barriers and restrictions that corrupt, extremist factions within our parties have put up to try and empower themselves. It’ll blunt the impact of dark money and special interests that push primary races to the extremes. It’ll make it easier for smart, thoughtful, good-faith voters to participate, and amplify voices of reason in our parties.

What entrenched powers want us to believe is that voters are their parties, but they’re not – parties are their voters. If we empower voters, we’ll wind up with better parties. If Scott Herndon really cares about political parties as voices of the people, he should sign a petition.

Hal Gates

Sandpoint

Facts of misspent school tax money and political donations

In an era where quality education should be a top priority, it’s disheartening to witness the misuse of school tax money and political donations. The intersection of these two issues creates a perfect storm of financial mismanagement and undermines the very foundation of our educational system.

First and foremost, school tax money is meant to provide our children with the best possible education. However, all too often, it seems to vanish into a bureaucratic black hole, leaving students and teachers without the necessary resources. This misallocation of funds harms the future of our nation by shortchanging our students’ potential.

Equally alarming is the influence of political donations on educational policy. When politicians are beholden to special interests, it’s the students who suffer. Decisions about curriculum, teacher salaries, and classroom resources should be made based on what’s best for our children, not what benefits campaign donors.

We must demand transparency and accountability in how school tax money is allocated and how political donations influence educational decisions. The future of our society hinges on a well-educated populace, and we can’t afford to squander resources on political games.

It’s time to put our children’s education first and ensure that school tax money is used wisely, without the undue influence of political contributions. Our future depends on it, and our children deserve nothing less.

Chad Orebaugh

Newman Lake