Letters to the editor - Tuesday (2-01-2012)

Sales tax increase needed to restore education funding

Regarding Gov. Beverly Perdue’s proposal for a three-quarter-cent sales tax increase:

Fifty North Carolina mayors and countless others are in support of the proposal to restore the three-quarters of a cent sales tax that expired. When this sales tax expired, the budget could no longer fund 1,700 teachers and 2,300 teacher assistants. That’s 4,000 careers that were lost this year — 4,000 more people put on the unemployment line.

The number of students per teacher has increased. How do you think this affects our children? The budget cut hurts N.C. youth from pre-k through high school. There are 10,000 preschool children in North Carolina who are currently on the waiting list for child care. It is proven that the better the education children receive in the early preschool years, the better the children will understand reading, math and cognitive concepts as they grow and learn. These children will grow up to be the leaders in our state and throughout our country. The restoration of this “less than a penny” sales tax would bring back $864 million in revenue for our children’s future.

What we do now affects all of our children! Are we going to hold back or push forward in our efforts to educate the children of our future?

— Ann Howell

Salisbury