Why can't Ohio's leaders meet their responsibility to educate its children?

Why can't Ohio's leaders meet their responsibility to educate its children?
EDITOR:
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." Those words are from the Holy Bible, Mark 12:17. The parable was spoken some 2000 years ago by Jesus concerning the payment of taxes to Rome. Today in modern America, "we the people" render taxes to a multitude of "Caesars" in the form of township, county, state and federal government taxation.
Lately, time and again, voters all across the state of Ohio have defeated school tax proposals, much to the chagrin of school boards and officials. Is it because they really wish to see their schools fail? Or is it because they are being over burdened with taxes and rightfully suspicious of ever-increasing school spending? How did yesterday's emergencies become today's necessities?
I've felt for many years that the school funding issue should and could be resolved in Columbus. However, after traveling on a group bus trip to the capital city this past Nov. 13 and trying to convince our state legislators to follow the Ohio Supreme Court mandate to fund all of Ohio's children's educations, I am now convinced that the entire Ohio government process is dysfunctional regarding Ohio's children and their education. Unfortunately and sadly, the education and well being of all Ohio children seems to rest entirely with each and every individual citizen, in each and every individual school district.
In another parable from the Bible, Mark 9:42, Jesus gives all of his followers a warning. "Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck." Those are heavy duty words and I think it becomes clear that all children hold a special place in the eyes of their creator.
Maybe it is time for we the people of Ohio to look for alternatives in demanding educational excellence and tax limitations. Since nearly 50 percent of all public education money is spent on non-instructional services, perhaps outsourcing or privatizing maintenance and janitorial services, food and bus transportation is a part of the answer. We the people will reap exactly as we sow in Ohio.
DAVID METZLER
North Jackson
Americans are peopleof faith, and that's OK
EDITOR:
I'm responding to the letter titled, "The problem with mixing politics and religion is clear."
Why is religion such a hindrance to politicians and government officials?
People of different faiths are able to unite themselves with our nation's Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. People of different faiths are also able to unite themselves with the principles of the Bible on which our nation was founded. Moral truths are basic and go beyond the beliefs of any denomination.
The only complaint I hear from a nation of different faiths is that the idolizing of democracy, to the point of substituting it for morality, has led to a lack of "genuine" justice in our nation. Our nation holds certain truths as being "self-evident" -- meaning science doesn't have to prove them.
Men and women of every faith, who also have the political responsibility, are united in bearing witness to our nations' foundation principles for the sake of "genuine" justice. People of different faiths aren't second-class citizens and have intertwined since the birth of our nation.
SYLVIA KOCZWARA
Boardman