Editor,

Two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson argued for public education as a vital need for a functioning society and young democracy.

We deem Jefferson’s ownership of slaves deplorable yet his insistence upon the need for a thriving education system is as critical in our time as it was then.

There are those among us who see public education as some kind of threat. This is far from the truth. Defunding schools will only fuel a need for more prisons and graveyards.

Vote for the school levy for our children and the children of the world to come.

Betsy Doug Hofius

Clinton