By the time this letter appears in this newspaper the Oregon vote concerning the educational voucher proposal will have been decided. It is my goal to work toward giving families, especially those of moderate means, a choice of public or private education. If the state gave a voucher to private schools of 70 percent of what it costs to educate a child in the public schools, the state would save more than $1,600 a child. The public schools, no longer having a monopoly in education, would improve as a result of the competition. Obviously, none of the state funds would be used to teach a sectarian religion in these private schools.

It took eight years of teaching in the public schools and a public university for me to realize I had been flimflammed concerning the so-called neutrality of the public schools. The phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution, but was popularized 20 years after the document was written by Thomas Jefferson….

I surely believe parents have the wisdom and the right to choose the school their children attend, whether it be atheist, Christian, Jewish, Science of Buddhist in orientation. How wonderful to see in many parts of the world new freedoms gained. Americans have voiced a desire for pro choice in abortion and Sunday shopping; why should they continue to give others the power to decide where their child will be educated? Jesus stated, “Do not forbid the children from coming to me.” Peter Willard Chop Point School, Woolwich